'Extremely busy' private hospitals cannot support public health system 'ad hoc'

Jim Daly, CEO of the Private Hospitals Association (PHA), told the Irish Examiner that the existing relationship between public and private is “haphazard” and that there needed to be a strategic partnership established. File photo: Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie

The representative body for private hospitals has said that it cannot continue to support the public healthcare system on an ad hoc basis.

Jim Daly, CEO of the Private Hospitals Association (PHA), told the Irish Examiner that the existing relationship between public and private is “haphazard” and that there needed to be a strategic partnership established. “We can’t keep going with the haphazard relationship with the public sector,” Mr Daly said.

The former Fine Gael TD for Cork South-West, who served as Junior Minister for Mental Health and Older People from 2017 to 2020, said that the private hospitals across the country were “extremely busy” in recent months following a surge in demand.

“We can’t continue to meet that [public] demand as we are very busy with our own clients. They’re extremely busy and we are focused on expanding capacity to deal with that. We need a strategic partnership with the public sector.” 

While Mr Daly raised concerns about the “haphazard” nature of the relationship between the private and public health services, he did say that private operators were “happy” to assist where they can.

Currently, the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) has a panel of private hospitals where it buys up bedspace to allow people on waiting lists access to their specific treatments. These treatments include procedures for cataracts, hip and knee replacements as well as dental work.

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According to the most recent statistics, the NTPF spent over €45m on purchasing capacity within private hospitals in 2021. These statistics, released to Independent TD Catherine Connolly on May 30, do not include data for 2022 or 2023.

In previous years, particularly during the covid-19 pandemic, there was significant co-operation between the public and private sector. This included an agreement for the HSE to take over 20 private hospitals for €100m a month in the early days of the pandemic.

Asked about whether or not the public sector procuring space within private hospitals through the NTPF was impacting on the ability of private hospitals to provide treatment, Mr Daly said that it was not having a significant impact.

However, he said that the increased demand for private healthcare in recent months was due to a returning demand post-covid. Mr Daly said that there were no “significant” delays in people seeking treatment.

Hospital waiting lists

In recent months, there have been calls for the Government to do more to tackle the ongoing waiting list crisis, as hundreds of thousands of people continue to wait for treatment.

As of June 29, there are 598,228 people waiting for outpatient hospital treatments while 84,001 people wait for an appointment date for their inpatient care.

Responding to waiting list figures earlier this year, the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) said that the Government should use record-breaking exchequer incomes to fund a “time-bound” plan to reduce waiting lists.

“The State’s forecasted surplus should and must be used for the betterment of patient care — across the totality of the health service, from hospitals to stepdown and homecare services,” ICHA President Professor Robert Landers said.

“Only when capacity is increased and additional consultants are appointed will we see treatment volumes in public hospitals match demand and effectively reduce current unmanageable waiting lists on a sustainable basis.” 

At the Health Committee in April, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly pledged to deliver an additional 1,500 rapid build hospital beds following government negotiations. It is expected that this additional capacity could cost between €1bn and €2bn.