Social justice groups issue warning over health service inequality

BUILDING private and public hospitals side-by-side will lead to further health service inequality and undermine fundamental values, social justice groups warned today.

The Adelaide Hospital Society and the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice heavily criticised the Government’s health care reform plans in a new policy document, The Irish Health Service: Vision, Values, Reality.

They argue that plans for hospital co-location, which involves the transferring of private beds in public hospitals to private facilities, would increase the gulf between the rich and poor in Ireland’s health care system.