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Private hospitals may withdraw from the agreement that has seen the state take over their facilities during the Covid-19 crisis, if the HSE does not increase the number of patients it is sending them.
Hospitals suggested they would seek an alternative agreement with the government to provide patient care, similar to the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF).
The HSE is currently reviewing whether the three-month agreement should be extended. The deal has been criticized for its cost of 115 million euros per month and the relatively few patients treated at these facilities. Some 300 private consultants have not signed up to public contracts during the crisis. They claim that they have been excluded from their traditional private hospitals.
Health Minister Simon Harris said there was a “myth” that private hospitals were empty. He said in April that Bon Secours Hospital in Cork had 82% occupancy, UPMC Whitfield in Waterford 55%, Mater Private Hospital Cork 57% and Mater Private Hospital in Dublin 60%.
However, a group of fully private consultants who have not signed a state contract to work alone in the public system argued that in private hospitals on May 12, occupancy levels were 34% and some had no inpatients.
On Thursday, private consultants said they could no longer have histopathology samples for possible cancers processed in private hospitals, since they had not signed the state contract.
The consultants said they were looking to organize options for their patients outside of the private hospital procedures, including urgent intravitreal injections and infusions for multiple sclerosis and potentially cancer patients, as well as for histopathology samples.
Late reports
Separately, the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) is investigating whether all hospitals have reported complete cases of Covid-19, after it was discovered that one has reported hundreds of cases late. Late reported cases account for more than half of the 426 new cases of the disease reported by NPHET on Thursday. The deaths of 10 other patients were announced.
The government must inform private hospitals in late May about whether it wants to extend the agreement.
Health sources said it could be premature for the HSE to recommend ending the deal by the end of May as non-Covid care at public facilities is only being resumed.
HSE CEO Paul Reid and HSE Clinical Leader to evaluate Niamh O’Beirne during a briefing on the DCU Glasnevin campus in Dublin on Thursday. Photography: Leon Farrell / Photocall Ireland / PA Wire
The Association of Private Hospitals said: “PHA members recognized from the beginning the unprecedented challenge that the Covid-19 pandemic presented to the country and in good faith offered the network of private hospitals to plan for the expected increase in capacity demand. additional. This was the right decision for that time and that facility currently remains in place. Fortunately, the curve has flattened out considerably in the interim period. The requirement for the capacity of a private hospital is being reviewed by the HSE and we await the outcome of that process. While private hospitals are getting busier, activity levels depend on the cases HSE sends them. If they do not increase, it may be preferable to go back to the NTPF model whereby elective services and procedures can be purchased and contracted based on the precise levels of demand at any given time and, therefore, offer better value for money. “
The Cabinet will meet on Friday to discuss the easing of restrictions starting Monday, to which NPHET has given the green light. Public health officials have recommended that the government cover faces indoors where social distancing cannot be practiced. The measures will include allowing four people from different households to meet abroad, but the government can act to clarify that people only meet in groups of four once a day.
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