Getting staff for private hospitals ‘almost impossible’

IT WILL be almost impossible to find the medical staff for the private hospitals planned by the Government on the sites of eight public hospitals, the head of a new €130 million medical clinic warned yesterday.

Chairman of the board of the Hermitage Medical Clinic, Niall O’Carroll, said the supply of medical staff was already extremely limited and the development of co-located hospitals would make an already bad situation worse.

“Our worry is that too much of our time and capital would be spent competing for these scarce resources and not enough in meeting patients’ needs,” said Mr O’Carroll following the official opening of the 126-bed hospital in west Dublin by the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern.

He pointed out that almost €1 billion had been committed by syndicates of private shareholders to the building of seven new private hospitals that would treat public patients as well as those with private health insurance.

Mr O’Carroll said the Hermitage Medical clinic had started treating public patients under the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) and the Health Service Executive’s (HSE) winter initiative which is aimed at reducing patients on trolleys in public hospitals.

Against this background it was hard to understand how Government policy, that encouraged private development of hospital facilities would now confront those who had responded positively with the prospect of eight co-located hospitals.

“This will lead to pressures for public, private and co-located hospitals in attracting experienced medical consultants, recruiting qualified staff and many other issues,” he said.

Mr O’Carroll also said the impact that the seven new private hospitals would have on the health service had not yet been felt.

He believed that an analysis and further discussion was needed before the plan by the Government to build more private hospitals was given the go ahead.

“It may be in the end that we do need a number of co-located or other private hospitals but the case has to be made,” he said.

Meanwhile, the board of the HSE was meeting last night to discuss proposals for the co-location of the eight new hospitals.

The special co-location steering group yesterday submitted its recommendation regarding the invitation to tender document and project agreement to HSE chief executive Professor Brendan Drumm and the HSE board for final approval.

Last week, Health Minister, Mary Harney, denied suggestions that the co-location project was unravelling.