IMO supports co-location, but with conditions

THE Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) has called on the Government to guarantee to meet any funding shortfall created as a consequence of removing private patients from public hospitals.

Under the Government’s proposed co-location plan, private patients occupying beds in public hospitals will be transferred to private co-located facilities, depriving hospitals of a source of significant income, about €700 million over seven years.

Yesterday the IMO said it was prepared to support co-location if the Government built in safeguards to protect the interests of public patients. These include:

* one waiting list for all patients, public and private, prioritised on the basis of need;

* that the State acquire part ownership of any hospitals developed on sites owned by the State and where the State funds a significant part of the infrastructure through tax concessions;

* that the not-for-profit model, similar to the voluntary hospital tradition in Ireland or the endowed charitable trusts in the US be adopted “unless there is convincing evidence that this model will not work”.

In the event of a “for profit” model being adopted, the IMO wants profits capped and the money raised re-invested by the State in healthcare.

The IMO also said any additional capacity created by building private hospitals on public hospital grounds “should be made available to all patients equally on the basis of need rather than the ability of the patient, the insurer or the state to pay”.

The union wants the extra capacity to focus on providing protected space for elective care and the planned management of chronic disease.

Dr Sean Tierney, chair of the IMO Consultants Committee: “We believe that a public health system should function for everybody and, indeed, if there was enough capacity in our system, there would be no need to pay for priority access.”

The IMO wants an assurance that investment in public hospitals will continue and that clinical governance standards will apply equally to any new clinical facilities.

The Government is proposing eight co-located private hospitals and the Health Service Executive is expected to award contracts to developers this week.

Sinn Féin health spokesperson Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin said the plan, designed to free up 1,000 public hospital beds, was based on false claims on the part of the Government. He said Health Minister Mary Harney, in reply to his questions in the Dáil, “was unable to say how many beds would be provided in each of the co-located hospitals”.