Labour slams two-tier health system

The Labour Party is accusing the Government of failing to learn from the Susie Long case and exacerbating the two-tier nature of the Irish health system.

The party says a new survey by the Irish Council of General Practitioners and the Irish Cancer Society shows that private patients with suspected cancer are getting fast-tracked to treatment in state hospitals while their public counterparts are left to wait.

It says the Government's co-location policy will only make this situation worse.

Labour TD Jan O'Sullivan says the only way to eliminate this unfairness is to introduce universal health insurance that would guarantee treatment based on medical need rather than ability to pay.