Review group warns this could lead to serious effects and prolonged disruption for patients
The State is legally entitled to attach reasonable conditions to any funding it allocates to voluntary organisations providing health and social services and is free to withhold money from bodies that refuse to provide certain lawful services, a review group established by Government has found.
“The State would no longer fund providers of services as such but would pay only for the services it deems necessary to meet its obligations to the population. A variety of organisations would then contract to provide a range of services according to their capacity and other considerations and on the basis of quality and safety standards set by the State.
“It is hypothetically possible, for example, that a Catholic hospital may refuse to provide certain services. This debate raises legal questions as well as questions relating to the provision of State funding to hospitals that refuse to provide the full range of lawful services by reference to their religious ethos.”
“We make recommendations to rebalance the burden of current contractual relations between the voluntary sector and the HSE from a heavily bureaucratic emphasis on control of spending towards a greater focus on the quality of services delivered and outcomes.”The group said the pressures of the financial crisis seem to have led to “mission creep” and increased micromanagement by the HSE.
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