Co-location tender invites ‘out soon’

PRIVATE healthcare companies will be invited in the next two weeks to bid for the contract to build a private hospital on the grounds of Tallaght Hospital in Dublin.

The Health Service Executive (HSE) confirmed it would send out invitations to tender for the planned co-location at the hospital, in the south of the city.

It is understood that two companies in particular have been identified.

They are the Synchrony Group, recently awarded the contract to build a co-located hospital at St James’s in Dublin, and the Beacon Medical Group, which have secured similar contracts for Beaumont in Dublin and Cork University Hospital.

After issuing the invitations to tender, the HSE will take two weeks to decide between the companies and its decision will be announced in late September.

The board of Tallaght Hospital, which has one of the worst records for A&E overcrowding, said an extra 200 acute beds were required to meet demand.

The Adelaide Hospital Society said it was left with no option but to accept co-location as extra bed capacity was needed.

The society had previously criticised the co-location plan, believing it would further entrench the two-tier system of hospital care.

But last month, it rowed back, saying co-location was the only way to address acute bed shortages in the absence of an alternative scheme for public investment.