Harney insists co-location of hospitals is ‘proceeding as planned’

HEALTH Minister Mary Harney has insisted the Government’s plan to co-locate eight private hospitals on the grounds of public hospitals is proceeding as planned.

In a detailed response to reports carried on Newstalk on Thursday, Ms Harney said it was not true that the Health Services Executive (HSE) was proceeding with signing the contracts for four private hospitals and not the eight envisaged under the plan.

“Whoever the selective leaker is, they are not informed,” she told a press conference, ahead of her address to the Irish Medical Organisation in Killarney, Co Kerry.

The minister also moved to rectify any impression that the HSE was not fully supportive of her controversial co-location proposals and was distancing itself from her proposals.

This followed an interview by HSE chief executive Professor Brendan Drumm on Morning Ireland yesterday, in which he said that the co-location of private hospitals had not been discussed directly between himself and the minister and was an initiative that was in place before he joined the HSE.

Prof Drumm pointed out the limitations of private sector care compared to the complexity of care provided in the public sector.

When it was put to him that he didn’t give the impression that co-location was a fantastic solution, he replied: “I don’t think anybody, including the minister, would claim that all healthcare for private patients can be provided within the private sector.”

However, Ms Harney told reporters that co-location had been discussed at a meeting with Prof Drumm two weeks ago and that neither he nor any other senior HSE executive had raised any objections to the proposal.”

She also said Tom Finn, assistant director of the HSE for National Hospitals, had reassured the department yesterday that the plan had the full support of Prof Drumm and the HSE.

According to Mr Finn, the contracts with private sector interests for the hospitals may not be drawn up until the end of May, a development which could mean that they would not be awarded until after the general election.

Opposition parties have fiercely criticised the controversial plan and say they will abandon the project if they win power.