Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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257. To ask the Minister for Health if the agreement with private hospitals includes a provision to maintain a specified amount of additional reserve capacity in the event that the 30% capacity is reached or exceeded; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4737/21]

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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258. To ask the Minister for Health the measures in place to ensure the compliance of private hospitals with the maintenance of a 30% capacity for public use during the pandemic; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4738/21]

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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259. To ask the Minister for Health the limitations placed on the provision of non-essential medical treatment by private hospitals under the public use agreement; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4739/21]

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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260. To ask the Minister for Health the total and monthly cost of the agreement with private hospitals to reserve capacity for public use; the amount paid to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4740/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 257 to 260, inclusive, together.

Following the termination of the original private hospital agreement in June 2020, the Government mandated the HSE to seek to agree with the private hospitals a new arrangement which would provide the HSE with access to private hospital capacity to include a safety net arrangement for any further surge of Covid-19 cases.

The HSE has agreed a new safety net arrangement with all 18 private hospitals. They have signed Service Level Agreements which obliges them to provide additional hospital capacity to the HSE, to deal with the current surge in Covid-19 cases and any further surges in the pandemic, if they arise within the next 12 months.

Under the safety net arrangement, the hospitals have to supply, depending on the incidence of the disease, up to 15% or 30% of their capacity. The HSE will be responsible for invoking the safety net arrangement. The private hospitals must provide the capacity not more than 7 days after being notified by the HSE that it is required. The HSE's decision will be determined on the basis of any one of three metrics which objectively indicate that a Covid-19 surge event is imminent or present. These metrics cover the level of community transmission, the number of hospital beds in the public system occupied by Covid-19 patients and the number of ICU beds in the public system occupied by Covid-19 patients.

The agreement also provides for additional capacity over the 30% to be made available by mutual agreement between the HSE and any of the hospitals.

The capacity obtained by the HSE will be used to free up capacity in the public hospitals and will be mainly used for urgent, time-dependant and complex care. The HSE and individual private hospitals will work on a collaborative basis to manage the effective flow of patients, having regard to the capabilities of the private hospital concerned. It will be a matter for the private hospitals to determine the clinical priorities regarding the use of their capacity which is not taken up by the HSE.

The agreement will see the private hospitals provide a full service within the capacity made available including medical services and will be reimbursed at their standard commercial rate. It is not possible at this time to provide definitive costings as the monthly and final, cost of the agreement will be determined by a number of factors, including the length of time that surge arrangements are in place, as well as any future periods for which the agreement may be invoked. The total cost of the arrangement will be published at the appropriate time.