Harney’s hospital plan under fire

IT IS politically and morally wrong for Health Minister Mary Harney to proceed with her private hospitals plan when the Government might be out of power after the summer election, according to Fine Gael and the Labour Party.

The parties will today call on the Government to abandon its plan to build private hospitals on the campuses of public hospitals. They argue that, if contracts are signed, an incoming government will be unable to reverse the policy, which has not met with universal acceptance.

A Labour spokesman said yesterday: “It would be politically and morally wrong to sign contracts coming up to an election. This policy was not in the Programme for Government, nor in either of the (Fianna Fáil-PD) parties’ manifestos.”

Fine Gael and Labour will propose their alternative to the plan when they outline their joint health strategy this afternoon.

Ms Harney plans to free up 1,000 beds over five years by moving private beds out of public hospitals and into the new, co-located private hospitals.

However, Fine Gael and Labour will today pledge to abandon this plan, if returned to power.

The parties will outline a strategy to create 2,300 extra beds between now and 2013 by building new public hospitals and increasing funding for existing facilities.

They will promise to improve hospital services “through a combination of reform and investment, achieving better value for money and enhancing the quality of care”.

This is the fourth joint health agenda agreed by the two parties, which have formed a pre-election pact.

The previous strategies focused on mental health, A&E and patient safety.