Mayo TD's anger over negative impact of agreement with private hospitals

Mayo Fine Gael TD Alan Dillon has revealed the agreement between the government and private hospitals is having a negative impact on the quality of care received by some patients.  

Deputy Dillon elaborated: “Families who have paid private health insurance all their lives should rightly be annoyed and upset with the lack of care they are receiving as a result of the state’s takeover of private hospitals."

He highlighted an issue brought to his attention of a well know Castlebar man whose consultant is refusing to carry out urgent spinal surgery until contractual arrangement are in place.   

Deputy Dillon explained: “Last week, I was contacted by the wife of this Castlebar individual, who was referred to a hospital in Dublin with spinal complications causing extensive discomfort and pain.

"After four nights in the hospital, he was informed by staff that his consultant could not perform his urgent surgery due to him being a ‘private consultant’.   

"He was told that his case for urgent surgery was not required - or not deemed an emergency - after further diagnostic tests.

"To the amazement of the family he was later discharged that evening back to Mayo University Hospital.

"It’s crazy to see what this family is dealing with in the middle of a pandemic and how stressful this situation has been for them all to see their loved one's quality of life being severely impacted.”  

Deputy Dillon said: "Under normal circumstances this surgery would have been scheduled without question or without any delay in a private setting or public hospital." 

Deputy Dillon added: “There is a real urgency to resolve the current impasse between private and public consultant contracts.

"I have asked the Minister for Health to liaise swiftly with the consultant's group, his own department and the HSE to ensure all proposed measures protect all patients and their access to quality care."