Sir, – The latest plan to tackle hospital waiting lists again demonstrates a clear lack of will to build and provide a healthcare system that all can access when needed. The clue is the intention to throw even more taxpayer money at private providers via the National Treatment Purchase Fund conduit.
Have we not learned yet that as the private sector grows so too grows the pressure on staffing levels in the public sector? In this context, Government policy results in large amounts of public funds going on schemes that grow the private sector, which results in making the job of the HSE very much more difficult, if not impossible. This policy to move healthcare toward privatisation is being done without a scintilla of evidence that this will help efficiency, equity, cost containment or access. This just goes to show the frightening power of the market to get control of cherished social goods. The solution to the persistent crisis in healthcare is for the State to focus solely on developing the public system by investing all available funds in that sector. Those who want to use private healthcare are free to do so as long as that choice does not in any way impede access to treatment for those citizens using the public system. Taxpayers should not continue to see their taxes diverted to the private sector while seeing hurdles placed in the way of access to non-profit healthcare grow ever higher. – Yours, etc,
JIM O’SULLIVAN,
Rathedmond,
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Sligo.