Private hospitals deal will not be extended beyond June

The Government will not extend its deal with private hospitals beyond the end of June.

The Department of Public Expenditure will instead look to negotiate a new deal, which would allow full access to private facilities if a second wave of the virus arrives.

They hope the new deal will also see private hospitals used for some non-COVID health care services.

The plan was agreed by Cabinet this morning.

The deal saw the HSE take over 19 private hospitals to ensure the State had enough intensive care capacity to handle an expected surge in COVID-19 cases.

The deal has been costing the Exchequer €115m per month and many of the beds have been sitting empty.

Speaking outside Government Buildings this afternoon, the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said he 'very much stands over' the decision to strike the deal in the first place.

“We wanted to make sure that we had adequate ICU capacity, adequate critical care capacity and adequate bed capacity so we would not see the scenes we saw in other countries where hospitals became overwhelmed.

“Thankfully, we never got to that point because we, as a society, successfully managed to suppress the virus through our actions as a nation and we didn’t need to use the private hospitals to the extent we thought we might.

“We very much stand over the decision to take control of the private hospitals back in March – it was the right thing to do.

He insisted the HSE had “made some good use” of the private hospitals since the agreement was signed.

He said the contract runs to the end of June and Government has now confirmed that it will not be extended.

“Between now and then, we will negotiate with the private hospitals a new agreement,” he said.

“Our objective in that new agreement is to have step-in powers to take control of ICU beds and critical care capacity if we need them

“If there is a second wave that is worse than the first one or if we find that a second wave coincides with a bad flu season in the winter.”

He said the second objective is to reach an agreement allowing public places access to private facilities to deal with “the growing backlog” of people waiting for care.

“We may need to use that additional capacity they have in private hospitals for public patients - as we have done in the past but perhaps in a better and more different way,” he said.

HSE chief Paul Reid and Chief Operating Officer Anne O'Connor have both called for the deal to be extended in recent weeks - warning that the increased capacity will be crucial if there is any resurgence in the virus.

With reporting from Seán Defoe