Social Democrats health spokesperson P\u00e1draig Rice has welcomed the publication of the HSE\u2019s review of insourcing and outsourcing in the health service.<\/p>\n
Deputy Rice, who is Chair of the Oireachtas Health Committee, said:<\/p>\n
\u201cAhead of this morning\u2019s Health Committee sitting, the Minister for Health published the HSE\u2019s review of insourcing and outsourcing, which identified serious concerns with insourcing arrangements including conflicts of interest, non-compliance with procurement rules, abuses of public funds, and even fraud.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is welcome that the HSE has recommended phasing out all insourcing arrangements by June 30th 2026 – the Minister for Health must accept this recommendation and ensure that it is implemented on time to prevent any further abuses of public money.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the most concerning findings comes from the HSE\u2019s initial analysis of 148 companies involved in insourcing and outsourcing – this revealed that 83 current or former health service staff have been acting as directors in these companies.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf the 83 individuals, 58 were from the HSE, 23 of whom are still serving employees – however, the HSE could not say how many of the 25 Section 38 individuals are still employees in HSE-funded voluntary hospitals.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis data must be provided once a more forensic review has taken place.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe increasing over-reliance on outsourcing to private hospitals and other external companies must also be dealt with by government, as the Social Democrats have long argued.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile this aim is referenced in the review, it appears to be purely aspirational – the report states that removing the health service\u2019s dependency on outsourcing can only be achieved if the reform of elective care comes to fruition.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is why key Sl\u00e1intecare elective care reforms must be accelerated.<\/p>\n
\u201cFour new elective-only hospitals were to be delivered by 2028, but this government is nowhere near meeting that target, with no planning applications submitted – in fact, the final business cases haven\u2019t even been approved yet.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll the while, the six new surgical hubs announced by the then-Minister for Health in 2023 have still not all been delivered – at the time, we were told that it would take 18 months to deliver these hubs.<\/p>\n
\u201c25 months on, only one of these new hubs has opened.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we are to end the health service\u2019s overreliance on outsourcing, and indeed the NTPF, then these key elective care reforms must be delivered – otherwise, the creeping privatisation of our health service will only continue to increase.\u201d<\/p>\n
2nd July, 2025<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Social Democrats health spokesperson P\u00e1draig Rice has welcomed the publication of the HSE\u2019s review of insourcing and outsourcing in the health service. Deputy Rice, who is Chair of the Oireachtas Health Committee, said: \u201cAhead of this morning\u2019s Health Committee sitting, the Minister for Health published the HSE\u2019s review of insourcing and outsourcing, which identified serious […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11725,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,642,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","category-padraig-rice","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n