HSE cannot make patients liable until they formally state they wish to be treated privately

The main effect of a declaration was that the insurer must pay the actual bed cost for a patient in the public system, which is around 10 times what it used to be charged. File photo: AP/Omar Marques

The HSE cannot make hospital patients liable to pay private accommodation costs before they formally state whether they wish to be treated as private or public patients, the High Court has found.

However, Mr Justice Denis McDonald said, once a patient does state a wish to be treated as private, charges can be imposed from the date of admission.