Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 133, 135, 140, 199 and 207 together.

The Government is committed to exploring fully the scope for the private sector to provide additional capacity in the health system. In this context, my Department issued a policy direction to the HSE last July aimed at freeing up additional beds in public hospitals for public patients. This will be achieved through the development of private hospitals on the sites of public hospitals and the transfer of private activity to those hospitals, thereby freeing up capacity for public patients in public hospitals.

The initiative is expected to provide up to 1,000 additional beds for public patients over the next five years. It brings together different elements of Government policy in a coherent and practical way with the aim of increasing bed capacity for public patients, encouraging the participation of the private sector in generating extra capacity, maximising the potential use of public hospital sites, promoting efficiency among public and private acute service providers, promoting greater competition in the supply of hospital services and offering improved quality and choice to all patients.

Attached to the policy direction was an assessment framework which the HSE has been requested to follow in respect of proposals to locate private hospital facilities on public hospital sites. It requires that the evaluation should have regard to a detailed assessment of need and existing and planned capacity on a particular site and within the relevant region. It should also provide for a rigorous value for money assessment of any proposal which would take account of the value of the public site and the cost of any tax expenditure. In addition, it will make clear the need for adherence to public procurement law and best practice.

Since the publication of the policy document by my Department in 2005, the HSE has received expressions of interest from six major companies for the development of private hospitals co-located with public hospitals. Each company expressed an interest in more than one site. The HSE has ultimate responsibility for the implementation of this policy and I expect to see progress in this regard over the coming months. The chief executive officer of the HSE has stated to the Joint Committee on Health and Children that the Government's policy regarding private hospitals on public grounds has never been an issue for the HSE.

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