Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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1395. To ask the Minister for Health the details of his negotiations with the private hospital sector to ensure a permanent increase in the capacity across the health service; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33226/20]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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In March, in anticipation of the projected surge in Covid-19 cases and the expected impact on the health care system, a critical part of the response was to urgently ramp up capacity for acute hospital care facilities. An important element of the strategy was to put in place an arrangement with the private hospitals to use their facilities as part of the public system, to provide essential acute hospital services for the duration of the emergency. Following negotiations with the Private Hospitals Association an overarching agreement with the 18 private acute hospitals was agreed at the end of March. Under the agreement, the HSE secured 100% of the capacity of the private hospitals until the end of June.

Following termination of the agreement the Government mandated the HSE to seek to agree, with the private hospitals on a new arrangement which would provide the HSE with full access to private hospital capacity in the event of a surge of Covid-19 cases and separately with ongoing agreed access, in conjunction with the National Treatment Purchase Fund, to private hospital services to address the HSE's priority needs in providing both urgent time-critical care and addressing elective care for public patients experiencing delays.

In August the HSE initiated a procurement process to secure access to additional acute services and diagnostic capacity from private providers which is required to address anticipated shortfalls over the next two years. The process is due to be completed soon, and a panel put in place, following which each hospital will run mini competitions for the services they need. In the meantime, the Department has approved a temporary HSE arrangement for the treatment of patients in private hospitals pending the finalisation of the national procurement process.

The negotiations in the event of a surge are ongoing.