A substantial shift towards privatised medicine is revealed in the first study to enumerate the number of private hospital beds in Ireland, writes The Irish Times. Over the past 40 years, more than 1,000 “private for-profit” hospital beds have been opened, while slightly more public beds have been closed over the same period, according to new research published in Journal of Public Health. It finds the number of private for-profit hospital beds increased from zero in 1980 to 1,075 in 13 hospitals in 2015. Over this time, the number of public beds fell from 7,028 to 5,995, while the number of public hospitals dropped from 43 to 31.
Ireland has not compiled or published statistics for private for-profit hospitals, and for a significant proportion of private not-for-profit hospitals, since the 1980s. Comparisons with other countries are difficult because the Irish system of classification does not follow international standards.
Read more:
- The Irish Times: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/irish-healthcare-shifting-from-public-to-private-study-shows-1.4058057
- Privatization in the Irish hospital sector since 1980. Journal of Public Health, Vol 40 Iss 4, Dec 2018