Private hospital ‘will treat public patients in weeks’

WATERFORD’S new private hospital, the Whitfield Clinic, will open its doors to its first patients next week and is confident it will be able to provide radiotherapy for public patients within weeks.

Hospital bosses say they are on the verge of a deal with private health insurer, the VHI, which will see thousands of patients qualify for cover for a variety of procedures at the €50 million state-of-the-art facility.

A deal has already been brokered with insurer VIVAS but patients who have BUPA cover will have to await their fate until an ongoing risk equalisation wrangle is resolved, the hospital’s developer, Dr Jim Madden, has revealed.