Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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575. To ask the Minister for Health if the case of a person (details supplied) will be reviewed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54228/18]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Patients opting to be treated privately in a public hospital have chosen to pay the consultant and the hospital in respect of the services that each provides. Under the Health Act 1970 (as amended), the HSE is required to levy statutory private in-patient charges on all patients opting to receive private in-patient services, irrespective of the type of accommodation provided. The charging regime now distinguishes between the accommodation of private patients in single rooms and multi-occupancy rooms with the former charged at a higher rate.

The allocation of single rooms within public hospitals is closely aligned with the clinical needs of patients and is therefore dictated on operational or clinical grounds and not on the public or private status of the patient, so patients are not guaranteed a single room on admittance to a public hospital.