Contracts to be signed for 10 new private hospitals

CONTRACTS will be signed for the building of 10 new private hospitals on the grounds of public hospitals early next year, Health Minister Mary Harney revealed yesterday.

“It is nothing to do with the general election, but the intention is to have contracts signed early next year and the Health Service Executive (HSE) is working to that agenda,” she said.

The closer the public and private hospital systems could work together, the greater the benefits for patients, said the minister. It would also mean that the State could get beds in private hospitals for less than half of the cost of beds in public hospitals.