Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 2 June 2020

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response

Use of Private Hospitals

Mr. Martin Varley:

There is another broader discussion there. As I outlined in my opening statement, 46% of the population had maintained their health insurance. They rely on the private hospitals to a large degree and the private practice consultants provide that care. That is good for public hospitals because we do not have sufficient public hospital capacity. As I said, there are 12,000 beds in the public and 2,000 in the private; we must use them to the optimum degree. I am sure those who had health insurance will look forward to a situation where, if they have a requirement for urgent care, they can access it with their consultants and that will give continuity.

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