Galway Advertiser 2007/2007_05_31/GA_3105_E1_014.pdf 

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14 N E W S

www.galwayadvertiser.ie

May 31 2007

Admit public patients to Galway Clinic says Connolly
BY MARY O'CONNOR A local city councillor is calling for public patients to be admitted to the Galway Clinic in Doughiska in a bid to free up beds at the overcrowded University College Hospital. Independent councillor Catherine Connolly says under existing legislation the private hospital is required to admit up to 20 per cent of public patients. This has not happened to date, she claims. Her comments came during a meeting of the Regional Health Forum West at Merlin Park Hospital at which it was confirmed that plans to build a private hospital on the grounds of UCHG are not going ahead. Welcoming the news afterwards, she said this "u-turn" indicated the "chaotic nature" of the health service. She said admitting public patients to the Galway Clinic was "one of the easiest ways" to free up beds at UCHG. " In a written reply to a question tabled by me the HSE confirmed that no public patients had been admitted to the private hospital at Doughiska despite their legal obligations to accept up to 20 per cent of public patients. When asked how this situation had occurred the regional manager simply said the HSE had never asked the private hospital to comply with their legal obligations." She said this was "an incredible situation". "The HSE were pushing for the construction of private hospitals on public lands while existing private hospitals were not being asked to comply with their legal obligations and admit public patients. One of the easiest ways to free up beds in the public hospital was to ensure that public patients were admitted to the private clinic under existing legislation requiring the private hospital to admit up to 20 per cent of public patients. Yet this has not happened to date." Cllr Connolly said she will raise this issue at the next Regional Health Forum meeting in June and will request a report on how such a situation could be allowed arise. She outlined that the former plan to build a private hospital on public grounds at UCHG made "absolutely no sense" when the site was "so congested as matters stood and when the existing car parking was at crisis point". "I was vehemently opposed to the giving away of public lands for a private hospital and said there was absolutely no basis for pushing the co-location model other than pushing private for profit medicine. Any available public lands must be used for the construction of step down facilities for the elderly, given the scandalous waiting list of five years for a bed in a public nursing home in Galway city." Fine Gael city councillor Padraig Conneely had asked the HSE to confirm there had been no expressions of interest for UCHG's co-location plan. The proposal had aimed to free up 1,000 beds in the public system. "Now that this is not going ahead is there no freeing up of beds in Galway?" Alan Moran, Hospital Network Manager, HSE West said Galway was not in the list of sites tendered for. "Is it written out of the picture?" queried Cllr Conneely. Mr Moran said it was not in current plans. Re the freeing up of beds he told the councillor this would not be achieved through this means.