First public-private health deal launched

THE first public-private partnership deal to fast-track the building of 170 million euro hospital scheme will be launched today.

Health Minister Micheál Martin confirmed yesterday that tenders will be sought from the private sector to build 17 community nursing units for the elderly in the Eastern Regional Health Authority area and South Health Board region.

This new Department of Health venture is one way to ensure all capital projects promised under the National Health Strategy will be delivered, Mr Martin said, adding: "There will be no cutbacks on capital projects and the use of public private partnerships will ensure we get projects up and running faster."

A three-pronged approach using public-private partnerships, exchequer funding and the new National Development Finance Agency to build major capital projects, will be implemented.

"Public-private partnerships are one way to ensure that capital projects get up and running faster and we expect these community nursing units to be opened in two years," the minister said. "We identified the care of the elderly as an issue that needed to be tackled and this is why we decided to start with them."

Tenders will be sought to build nine community nursing units in the Eastern Regional Authority and eight in the Southern Health Board region.

These were the first two health authorities to provide the Department of Health with projects that could be built by public private partnerships (PPP).

But Mr Martin said he will accept other projects that could be financed by public private partnerships from any other health board

Under the PPP schemes the private sector will be invited to design, build, finance and operate the community nursing units. And the State will repay them over a long period, like a mortgage. The Department of Education has already used PPPs to fast-track the building of schools. The Department of Health was the only one to escape Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy's axe in his latest demand for belt-tightening cuts. Instead of cutting health services, the department opted to increase various service charges to generate the 38 million savings required.

Asked if he thought the Department of Health could now deliver the world class health service promised before the election, Mr Martin said:"I don't accept the critics' claims that we will not deliver a world class health service already this year we have increased our budget by 118 million euro and all our programmes are on course with this adjustment."