Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

That is the reason it has increased from 37% to 53%. If one can get into the public hospital, funded by taxpayers, on a preferential basis because one has private health insurance, that too is an incentive. I understand the late Susie Long was told by a doctor's secretary that if she had private health insurance she would be seen next week, but, if not, she would have to go on the list. I could not stand over that. It was wrong, and it is wrong. The publicly funded facilities are made available on the basis of preferential treatment. This is the fastest, most cost-effective way of providing additional capacity in these public hospitals and is also the most effective way of keeping the highly skilled consultants on the site. There are doctors in the city who work in Beaumont, Blackrock and, perhaps, other hospitals. That is not an efficient use of the time of those doctors who are highly skilled and highly trained. We want to see as many of them as possible only working on the single site——

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