THE HEALTH Service Executive has removed private practice rights from a number of hospital consultants.
The move yesterday follows allegations that the doctors concerned had been treating too many fee-paying patients.
The HSE said last night that the consultants concerned, who have not been publicly identified, could continue to treat private patients in public facilities as long as they did not charge them.
A spokeswoman for the HSE said that private health insurance companies had been notified of the move.
She said that the HSE was still looking at the issue of notifying the insurance companies with which the consultants had their medical indemnity cover.
The HSE did not say last night how many consultants had been sent letters rescinding their private practice rights.
However some sources suggested that it could be about half a dozen.
The Irish Hospital Consultants Association did not comment on the HSE move last night.
Depending on their type of contract, consultants with private practice rights in public hospitals can either see a maximum of 20 or 30 per cent of fee-paying patients.
Over the past year or so, the HSE argued that a number of consultants were not in compliance with the terms of the public-private mix in their new contracts.
The consultants association has for some time challenged the methodology used by the HSE in calculating the level of private practice. It has said the system adopted by management in the health service is “fundamentally flawed”.
The Irish Timesreported last Tuesday that a number of hospital consultants had over the summer reduced the number of private patients seen – or cut back on the number whom they charged for treatment – in a bid to come back within official limits.
