John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Various consultants who contacted us over the past few weeks have pointed to the fact that the current arrangement with private consultants in private hospitals is inefficient and a waste of taxpayers' money. That could have been done differently, it could have been done better and it could be modified now. Who is giving us a look-back on how this contract has worked up to the point of its extension, if it happens, at the end of the three months? A consultant radiologist, for example, tells me that they would normally read 200 patient scans a day and that has gone down to zero. Is that true? Is that a fact of this arrangement the HSE has with the private hospitals? Is that a consequence of it?

Another consultant informs me that a significant number of private hospital appointments have been cancelled. Does Mr. Reid know how many have been cancelled for the months of May and June? Another consultant says that because three months of normal service has been lost, the projection of 1,800 extra cancer deaths is now a figure that is known to the Department. I want to know where that figure came from, does it stand up, and if Mr. Reid has any comment on it?

The other issue is the contract itself. Mr. Reid offers contract A. I want to know if there was a greater saving to be made or a greater use of the time of consultants in terms of contracts B and C.

Is it true that someone informed the State Claims Agency to contact pathologists to say that the cancer biopsies from private hospitals from consultants who had not signed contract A were not to be read? was that a means of forcing those consultants to sign contract A?

The other issue is also referred to in a consultant's letter IN which he states that there are no pathways for him to look after public patients or for the consultant’s patients to be added to public waiting lists. That would seem to contradict what the HSE said earlier. The witnesses cannot ignore the feedback from the consultants in these cases who are pointing to failures within the system and to a lack of governance in the spending of taxpayers' money. Will the HSE tell us how many tests are undertaken in each of the 47 test centres? Do they run on a seven-day basis, how many tests are carried out in each centre, and what are the costs involved?