David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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241. To ask the Minister for Health the progress made in eliminating the provision of private care by consultants in public hospitals; when same will be achieved; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17835/20]

David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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277. To ask the Minister for Health the net increase in the number of public hospital consultants since the adoption of Sláintecare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17871/20]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 241 and 277 together.

Following on from the publication of the Sláintecare Report in May 2017, the De Buitléir Group was established to consider matters relating to the proposal that private care be removed from the public hospital system, as recommended in the Report.

The De Buitléir Group recommended that contracts permitting private care by consultants be phased out gradually and that legislation be introduced to ensure that public hospitals are exclusively used for the treatment of public patients from the conclusion of the ten-year Sláintecare implementation period.

The Programme for Government includes commitments to finalise the Sláintecare Contract and to legislate for public-only work in public hospitals. Arrangements relating to the finalisation of the Sláintecare contract are in train. Its introduction will also require amendment of the FEMPI Acts to enable pay increases for serving 'new entrant' consultants, as the Acts currently prohibit pay increases for serving public servants.

Since the Government accepted the recommendation of the De Buitléir Group in December 2019 in relation to future consultant appointments being confined to the 'Sláintecare public-only consultant contract', the number of consultants has increased by 140 (to end May 2020 wte's), reflecting ongoing growth and also the need to increase capacity in response to COVID-19.

Given the impact of COVID-19 on the acute hospital system arrangements were made to enable consultants holding contracts that allow private activity to move temporarily to the Type A public-only consultant contract under 'fast-track' arrangements. By 7th July 150 consultants had availed of this arrangement and on 15th July my Department approved an extension of the arrangement to the end of December, recognising that the measure is consistent with the future direction of health policy.

David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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242. To ask the Minister for Health if an independent assessment has been carried out of the separation of private practice from the public hospital system; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17836/20]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Arising from the recommendation by the All-Party Oireachtas Committee on the Future of Healthcare that private activity be progressively removed from public hospitals and that an independent impact analysis of the separation be conducted, an Independent Review Group (IRG) was established to examine the removal of private practice from public acute hospitals.

The Independent Review Group, which was chaired by Dr Donal de Buitléir, made eight recommendations which it considers would be necessary to remove private activity from public hospitals. Five recommendations concern the consultant contract. A sixth recommends legislation to ensure that public hospitals are exclusively used for the treatment of public patients from the conclusion of the ten-year Sláintecare implementation period. Two further recommendations relate to better data collection and HIQA’s role in private hospitals.

The Report was published in August 2019 and in December Government announced the introduction of a Sláintecare consultant contract, based on key recommendations contained in the IRG Report. A link to the published report is enclosed for reference

The current Programme for Government, Our Shared Future, contains specific commitments in relation to finalising the new Sláintecare consultant contract and legislating for public-only work in public hospitals, which are fundamental aspects necessary to support progression towards the goal of a single-tier public hospital system.