The organisation representing the country's private hospitals has warned that public hospital waiting lists will have to be eliminated before the planned introduction of universal health insurance (UHI) in 2019.

Catherine Whelan, Chief Executive of the Independent Hospitals Association of Ireland (IHAI), in an interview with irishhealth.com, said it would be very difficult for UHI to operate on the basis that everyone will have equal access to care unless the current level of waiting lists ceased to exist prior to the introduction of the new system in 2019.

"One of the queries we would have about UHI is that we would assume that by the time we get to day one of UHI implementation, waiting lists will be cleared, otherwise it would be very hard to operate on the basis of an equal access principle."

Ms Whelan said there was a big piece of work to be done as there are currently over 50,000 people on elective waiting lists for procedures at present and 330,000 awaiting a first-time outpatient appointment.

"We need to identify whether there is a means, before we even get to UHI, of addressing waiting lists rather than waiting until all the infrastructure is in place, because UHI is such a massive initiative with so many building blocks, so we would want to talk to the Department of Health about opportunities for us to engage with them in terms of supporting a reduction in waiting lists as best we can."

Ms Whelan said private hospitals currently have considerable spare capacity which could be used to help reduce waiting lists.

Under UHI, the changes would mean that the distinction between private and public hospitals would effectively cease to exist, as everyone would be insured for equal access to care.

Ms Whelan said the private hospital group had other concerns about UHI, including whether agreed prices paid to hospitals under the scheme would incentivise innovation and new technology; whether the prices agreed would reflect the fact that private hospitals have to factor in their staff pensions and capital costs into what they charge; and in terms of access to care.

She also pointed out that it was likely that the current hospital consultant contract, which gives some consultants private practice rights, would have to be completely renegotiated in view w of the fact that the distinction between public and private care is to be removed.

Ms Whelan indicated that the success or otherwise will very much depend on what is included in the basic 'basket' of services people will be iniured for.

View the full interview here