{"id":522118,"date":"2026-06-06T18:49:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T18:49:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/522118\/"},"modified":"2026-06-06T18:49:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T18:49:11","slug":"health-minister-will-not-meet-rotunda-board-until-it-accepts-government-policy-on-consultants-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/522118\/","title":{"rendered":"Health Minister will not meet Rotunda board until it accepts Government policy on consultants \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill<\/a> will not meet the board of the Rotunda hospital<\/a> until it confirms it will align with Government policy and stop public-only consultants from providing private care. <\/p>\n

On Friday, the board of the biggest and oldest maternity hospital in the country sought a meeting<\/a> with Carroll MacNeill to \u201cexplain the rationale\u201d of its decision to permit private practice on-site by doctors who had signed contracts committing to only carrying out public work. <\/p>\n

Derek Tierney, the secretary general of the Department of Health<\/a>, has now responded to the Rotunda. <\/p>\n

The HSE<\/a> had previously sought extensive details from the Rotunda of the number of public-only consultants who have been providing private care at the hospital, including how much the Rotunda has billed for such treatment. <\/p>\n

In a statement on Saturday, the Department of Health said Tierney had noted the Rotunda\u2019s intention to reply to the HSE\u2019s question by Monday\u2019s deadline. <\/p>\n

The statement said the department believed it \u201cessential that this response directly addresses the matters raised and clearly demonstrates alignment with Government policy \u2013 which provides for the removal of private practice from public settings.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this context, any further explanation of the Board\u2019s position must be directed towards confirming how the Hospital will bring its arrangements into conformity with Government policy, its contractual obligations under the signed service level agreement of 2026 and compliance with the terms of the POCC [Public Only Consultant Contract] generally,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce the HSE has received and considered the Hospital\u2019s response, and there is clear assurance that the position is aligned with Government policy, the Minister would of course be happy to continue to engage further on all aspects of the future development of the Rotunda and its services.\u201d <\/p>\n

Tensions over the matter have been building between hospital management and Government in recent days. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0All pregnant women should get continuity of care \u2013 not just those who can pay for itOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Following an extraordinary general meeting on Friday, the hospital\u2019s governing power declined to back down from its decision to allow public-only consultants<\/a> to continue offering private care<\/a> on-site. <\/p>\n

The number of consultant obstetricians on public-only contracts at the Rotunda is small \u2013 just one doctor delivered two private patient babies under this model in the first quarter of the year. However, it is understood the hospital is defying the Government in a bid to retain private maternity care in publicly funded hospitals.<\/p>\n

Speaking on RT\u00c9 Radio\u2019s Saturday with Cormac \u00d3 hEadhra, Fianna F\u00e1il Minister of State Robert Troy<\/a> said there have to be \u201cconsequences\u201d should the board not ensure the public contracts are \u201cimplemented to the letter of the law\u201d.<\/p>\n

Outlining potential consequences, Troy said withholding cash would be the \u201cnuclear option\u201d, but fines or withholding cash for further capital investment were also possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody forced any consultant to sign up to this contract,\u201d Troy said, adding that consultants who signed up knew \u201cfull well\u201d they were prohibited from operating private practice in public facilities.<\/p>\n

He said the Minister for Health would \u201cforcefully implement the intention behind these public contracts\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill will not meet the board of the Rotunda hospital until it confirms…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":522119,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[9,10,3496,18,13,14,6,60,19,17,5002,11,12,15,16,5,72170,32995,7,8],"class_list":["post-522118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-department-of-health","tag-eire","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-headlines","tag-hse","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-jennifer-carroll-macneill","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-news","tag-robert-troy","tag-rotunda-hospital","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116704665163165234","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=522118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522118\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/522119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=522118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=522118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=522118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}