A local Green Party election candidate has called for a not-for-profit operator to run the new co-located hospital at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital because international studies suggest this is the best strategy.

James Nix, who will run in the 2009 local elections in Limerick City North, said that when healthcare is run for profit, "it costs patients and health insurers more and puts financial strain on existing state run hospitals".

"Research involving 2,500 hospitals shows that when healthcare is run for profit it costs 19% more, and this is reflected in higher direct payments incurred by patients as well as higher health insurance costs. If a for-profit and a non-profit hospital are located near each other, the for-profit hospital tends to find ways to avoid less profitable procedures, which makes for longer queues at the neighbouring hospital which is usually state-run," he added.

"In Australia, where co-location has been tried, the state now spends more subsidising private healthcare provision than in the areas of food production, primary manufacturing and mineral extraction combined. Effectively, Australia's Government is now paying for profit taking across an enormous sector and private healthcare providers have gained enough political influence to ensure this continues to grow."

He said a study of 38 million patients "also shows that non-for-profit companies deliver better health outcomes".

Mr Nix claimed that Limerick patients "face a scenario where those who can't afford to attend the private hospital, will have to join a queue for Limerick Regional, where a backlog of complicated and unprofitable procedures await".

"Any suggestions that the benefits of competition can be applied to healthcare are bogus. No study has ever shown that for-profit healthcare yields better patient outcomes at lower costs. Across the Limerick area, there are a great many people committed to serving patients in a not-for-profit setting, many of them working in the healthcare sector already. We must build on this rich tradition to deliver a management structure for a new not-for-profit hospital."

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