Pat Gallagher (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

The board of Tallaght Hospital agreed unanimously last week to proceed with co-location. No hospital has been forced to participate in this initiative.

Private health care has always been a feature of the State's health care system, and public and private service provision have complemented each other. Access to public hospitals should be based on need only. The co-location initiative will provide an additional 1,000 beds for public patients. Private patients at these hospitals will be treated in the new co-located private hospitals. It is the quickest and least expensive means of providing 1,000 beds for public patients. There is much interest in the initiative. The HSE has evaluated tenders for six sites and expects to appoint the successful bidders following approval from its board at the beginning of next month.

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