The board of the Rotunda Hospital has acquiesced to the demand of Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill that its public-only consultants take on no private work.
The board said in a statement on Monday evening that it has “unanimously decided to bring the hospital’s arrangements into line with the Government’s policy on the terms of the public-only consultant contract”.
The threat of withdrawal of funding was something the board could not countenance because of the potential consequences for women and babies, it said.
“The board is confident that the safety and clinical outcomes for all women and their babies is of the highest standard in the Rotunda Hospital,” the statement said.
“The board continues to believe in the importance of choice for women and that a compromise solution for maternity care should be sought through dialogue with the Department of Health and the HSE.”
The Minister for Health welcomed the decision.
“Today’s decision brings welcome clarity and certainty for patients, staff and the wider health service,” she said in a statement.
“All of us, together, can now focus on continuing to deliver the very best care for all women and their babies and implement reforms that strengthen our public health service for all.”
Monday’s developments came after the Minister turned down an invitation for a meeting with the board of the hospital, with the Department of Health saying no such meeting would be agreed to until the Rotunda backed down.
The HSE has requested the names of consultants who are carrying out private practice on public-only contracts, and the names of the person who gave them permission to continue such practice.
The HSE also sought the number of babies who have been delivered by these consultants, and the number of pregnant women currently seeing the consultants for private care.
The amount of money the Rotunda has billed or claimed for, either from mothers themselves or from private health insurance companies, has also been requested.
Carroll MacNeill said earlier on Monday that she remained confident the board of the hospital would indicate it is happy to comply with the terms of the public-only consultant contract as an initial deadline of 5pm on Monday was extended.
She said the Rotunda was a professional organisation that had signed up to a service-level contract with the HSE that requires compliance.
She said if the Rotunda failed to comply with the requirements, the Department of Health and the HSE would look at the service-level contract and see what options were available to obtain compliance.
“I’m speaking in generalities here now, but it’s not going to be possible for the State or the taxpayer to fund any entity, whether it’s the health entity or any other entity, and to have a contract and an agreement and for that not to be complied with,” she said.
Carroll MacNeill had suggested the Rotunda may owe refunds to women who have received private care from public-only consultants. Insurance Ireland, the representative body for insurers in Ireland, said it “would not expect” private fees to arise from consultants who are on public-only contracts.
On Monday, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said consultants that signed public-only contracts have to fulfill them, describing this as a “a very reasonable ask from Government”.
During a press conference at a Renew Europe event in Cork, Martin was asked if he could envisage a scenario where funding was withheld from the Rotunda.
He replied: “The bottom line there is the consultants voluntarily signed up to the public-only contract and many of us are very surprised at the turn of events.”
Martin added: “We can’t have a situation where the entire edifice which was negotiated between the representatives of consultants and the [last] Government… that would somehow be, overnight and behind the scenes undermined.
Tánaiste Simon Harris said the row was “very badly handled” by the Rotunda.
Harris said the stance taken by the Rotunda had led to an unacceptable and “bizarre situation” where public-only consultants were taking on private patients in a public hospital.
“You can’t have a situation where you sign on the dotted line and commit to doing public only and say, ‘Ah, I will do a bit of private’. That’s not fair to anybody.”
Speaking on Tonight with Gavin Reilly on Virgin Media TV, Harris said he was not aware of any other breach of a public-only contract in any other hospital.
“Sláintecare was a major moment where we said we want to create universal health care in Ireland,” he said.
“We want to provide our doctors with amongst the very best salaries in the OECD (so they will) be able to improve the public health service, and that’s the commitment.”
