Hospital co-location plan at risk of demise

THE future of the Government’s controversial plan for co-located hospitals is in serious doubt after yet another contractual deadline was missed and opposition parties said they would bin the project if returned to government.

The plan, trumpeted by Health Minister Mary Harney as the quickest way to provide an additional 1,000 beds in the public hospital system, has been beset by problems and is already five-and-a-half years in the pipeline.

With a change of administration looking increasingly likely and the expiry date on the contracts extended, the project faces the prospect of being killed off by the next government.

Yesterday a spokesperson for the Beacon Medical Group (BMG) confirmed they had missed an already revised deadline of January 10 for the final sign-off on a number of co-location projects.

BMG has been given a February date to finalise outstanding issues. BMG is proposing to build private hospitals on the campuses of Cork University Hospital (CUH), the Midwest Regional Hospital in Limerick and Beaumont Hospital in Dublin, at a total investment of €748 million.

Fergal Mulchrone, chief executive of Synchrony, the consortium behind a fourth co-location project at St James Hospital in Dublin, yesterday confirmed they had been given a new March deadline to resolve outstanding issues after the original December deadline was not met.

However, there are fears the contracts may not now be finalised prior to a general election despite co-location being stated government policy.

Fine Gael health spokesman Dr James Reilly said co-location “will be consigned to the dustbin” if his party gets into power.

He said it was “dead anyway” and that “no one was going to bank it” in the current economic climate.

Labour health spokeswoman Jan O’Sullivan said: “If we can legally ensure that they [the hospitals] don’t have to go ahead, then they won’t.”

There are concerns the state may be exposed in the event of the projects not going ahead. BMG has already invested €30 million.

When asked yesterday if BMG would sue the state if the plug was pulled on co-location, a spokesperson said: “We cannot comment.”

Sinn Féin health spokesman Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin said co-location was “totally ill-conceived” and that, if in power, his party would wind it down “at the least possible expense to the taxpayer”.

The main stumbling block between the Health Service Executive (HSE) and the developers is the “compensation for termination” clause, which could leave the private partners with no compensation should the projects fail, affecting their bankability.

The VHI’s stance — that it will not insure any new private facilities — has also caused difficulties.

Yesterday, the HSE said it would “continue to work with Beacon to get the project funding in place”.

The Department of Health said Minister Harney had raised with the VHI its decision not to cover customers in co-located hospitals, and “asked them to review their position”. She is awaiting a response.