Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
THE HSE has told the Dáil Covid-19 committee that the cost of taking over the private hospitals will be roughly €300 million.
The deal, which saw the State renting 19 private hospitals during the pandemic, was estimated to cost €115 million per month.
The arrangement is due to conclude at the end of the month, following a Cabinet decision last week.
The Irish Hospital Consultants Association told the committee earlier today that the deal was poor value for money.
Sinn Féin’s David Cullinane agreed with the statement, particularly when less than half the capacity was used.
No cost-benefit analysis was conducted, according to the Department of Health’s Secretary General Jim Breslin.
He said the deal was negotiated over the period of one weekend, and was agreed on the basis the State might need the entirety of the private capacity.
Breslin said the department wanted to have all capacity at the ready, stating there were no other beds on the island the State could get access to.
Facing critism from Culllinane in relation to the cost, Breslin said:
“A fire alarm went off and we sent four fire tenders to put out the fire, and people are saying now we should only have sent three… What if it needed more than three?”
‘Very poor value for money’
The consultants group said earlier today that the test of time has confirmed that the private hospital agreement, which is costing around €115 million per month, “represents very poor value for money from patient care and taxpayer perspectives”.
“The experience is that of very low private hospital bed capacity occupancy at around one third on average and low utilisation of theatre and other ancillary facilities.
“Furthermore, the private hospital contract is prohibiting the provision of urgent care required by patients with non-Covid-19 illnesses. This is leading to the accumulation on waiting lists of a large number of patients who require urgent care.
“There is now the additional risk that these patients will deteriorate clinically and will increasingly evolve into emergency cases if they are not treated without delay. All patients deserve timely access to quality care.”
Social distancing
The HSE also told the Dáil Covid-19 committee today that most of Ireland’s existing public hospitals will not be fit for purpose in terms of meeting the requirements of safe distancing.
In his statement to the committee, which is again being held in the Dáil chamber, Liam Woods, national director of acute operations, stated that even a relatively modest increase in the reproductive rate to 1.2 or 1.3 “would have very significant impact on both specialist critical care beds and the wider hospital system.”
“Our existing infrastructure in many of our public hospitals is not fit for purpose in terms of meeting the emerging requirements in terms of safe distancing,” Woods said.
Advertisement
In the last week, there has been increased pressure to reduce the social distancing rule from two metres to one metre by a number of sectors.
Last week, Labour’s Alan Kelly said that the rule was hindering the reopening of the health service and screening programmes.
The committee was also told that until such time as there is a vaccine or cure for the virus, healthcare delivery will occur in a higher risk environment where outbreak and surge could occur at any time.
The underlying capacity issue remains in the acute system, the members were told, with the issues only being amplified by the need to manage Covid-19.
While the private hospital system is “not the sole solution for the safe delivery of care in the Covid-19 environment” it is the only immediate acute option that can help provide an occupancy of 80% delivering on the twin requirements of matching non-Covid demand and providing surge capacity for Covid-19, the committee heard.
As winter approaches this year there will be the additional challenge of Covid-19 patients on trolleys in emergency department awaiting admission to hospital wards, the HSE warned.
Speaking about the suspension of non-Covid care, the committee will be told of a build-up of waiting lists.
Areas of immediate priority include endoscopy, cardiology, cardiovascular, urology, orthopaedics.
The numbers waiting for more than three months for endoscopy at end February have gone from 11,801 to 17,664 at end April.
Equivalent waiting list figures for orthopaedic procedures go from 6,134 waiting more than 3 months in February to 8,672 by end April, 2020.
Similarly, all four national screening programmes have been suspended under clinical advice since March and can only recommence when certain safety conditions can be met, according to the HSE.
The committee will be told that virtual clinics could support the delivery of up to 50% of out-patient appointments in some specialties, and would reduce the requirement for face to face appointments.
On the private hospital deal, the HSE says that Ireland has a low number of ICU beds per head of population.
Clinical modelling exercises undertaken within the HSE in March regarding the expected demand for acute care and critical arising from the pandemic indicated that by mid-April, 1,000 critical care beds and 2,000 additional inpatient beds might be needed to match peak demand.
Existing and usual public sector capacity was 250 critical care beds.
The Irish Hospital Consultants Association said the predicted steep surge did not occur because of mitigating actions that were taken, adding “at this time it appears it is unlikely to occur in the months ahead given the success of the public health measures implemented thus far”.
Need for ongoing capacity
The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation will also address the committee today and raise the issue of capacity and how it put the Irish health service on the back foot from the beginning.
Its statement states that due to government neglect over the years, the Irish health system has huge deficits in terms of bed capacity which urgently need to be addressed if it is to continue to deal with the Covid-19 crisis.
The INMO has called on the HSE to publish its clinical roadmap for the reopening of services, stating that it must allow for a “gradual reopening” of both public and private care in tandem with prioritising patients based on clinical need.
Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article.
Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Close
40 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic.
Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy
here
before taking part.
@James Hayes: I had to read that twice. My parents used to drive there and I always remember a deep dip full of water on the way home. Us all having to get out of the car on while they pushed the car through and got it restarted.
Man arrested in Tyrone by police investigating murder of elderly man at apartment
1 hr ago
845
Oval Office
Zelenskyy leaves White House summit after Trump claims he's 'not ready for peace'
Updated
17 hrs ago
98.3k
593
Your Cookies. Your Choice.
Cookies help provide our news service while also enabling the advertising needed to fund this work.
We categorise cookies as Necessary, Performance (used to analyse the site performance) and Targeting (used to target advertising which helps us keep this service free).
We and our 153 partners store and access personal data, like browsing data or unique identifiers, on your device. Selecting Accept All enables tracking technologies to support the purposes shown under we and our partners process data to provide. If trackers are disabled, some content and ads you see may not be as relevant to you. You can resurface this menu to change your choices or withdraw consent at any time by clicking the Cookie Preferences link on the bottom of the webpage .Your choices will have effect within our Website. For more details, refer to our Privacy Policy.
We and our vendors process data for the following purposes:
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
Cookies Preference Centre
We process your data to deliver content or advertisements and measure the delivery of such content or advertisements to extract insights about our website. We share this information with our partners on the basis of consent. You may exercise your right to consent, based on a specific purpose below or at a partner level in the link under each purpose. Some vendors may process your data based on their legitimate interests, which does not require your consent. You cannot object to tracking technologies placed to ensure security, prevent fraud, fix errors, or deliver and present advertising and content, and precise geolocation data and active scanning of device characteristics for identification may be used to support this purpose. This exception does not apply to targeted advertising. These choices will be signaled to our vendors participating in the Transparency and Consent Framework.
Manage Consent Preferences
Necessary Cookies
Always Active
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
Targeting Cookies
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
Functional Cookies
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
Performance Cookies
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Store and/or access information on a device 105 partners can use this purpose
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development 137 partners can use this purpose
Use limited data to select advertising 106 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Create profiles for personalised advertising 79 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Use profiles to select personalised advertising 78 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Create profiles to personalise content 38 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Use profiles to select personalised content 34 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Measure advertising performance 127 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Measure content performance 60 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Understand audiences through statistics or combinations of data from different sources 75 partners can use this purpose
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Develop and improve services 82 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Use limited data to select content 39 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
Use precise geolocation data 43 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Actively scan device characteristics for identification 25 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Ensure security, prevent and detect fraud, and fix errors 87 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Deliver and present advertising and content 97 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Match and combine data from other data sources 69 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Link different devices 51 partners can use this feature
Always Active
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Identify devices based on information transmitted automatically 85 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
Save and communicate privacy choices 65 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say