asked the Minister for Health if he will state in respect of the years 1982 and 1983 the number of: (a) public patients and (b) private patients treated (i) by each consultant and (ii) in total, in Cork Regional Hospital.

The information sought by the Deputy is not available to my Department. I am taking steps to ensure that the information will be collected in future.

Does this mean that no records are being kept by the Southern Health Board? If that is the case would the Minister agree that it constitutes a serious omission on their part, that there is inadequate financial management on the part of the board when they cannot identify the level of practice within the different hospitals?

The position is that the Southern Health Board do not keep records of the numbers of such patients treated in particular departments of the hospital or indeed treated by individual consultants. If patients in category (1) and category (2) ask to be treated as private patients of course they become liable for fees, as in the case of category (3) patients, and they are then regarded as private patients of the consultant concerned. The information has not been collated to date. I have now directed that the information be collected in future so that we have all of that type of information available to us in relation to the health services.

How does the Minister intend that this information will be collected in view of the fact that all patients are entitled to free maintenance in hospital? If patients opt for public ward accommodation and then decide to make an arrangement with their consultant to be treated as a private patient, how does the Minister envisage that this information will be collected or what power has he to ensure that the information will be forthcoming?

We are talking about the level of in-patient and out-patient attendances at the Cork Regional Hospital. I hold the view very strongly that where a patient goes in for in-patient or out-patient facilities he or she is registered as category (1) or category (2) and, if he or she opts out and goes private, the health board and the hospital should record the fact that he has gone private, when we would then know who was treating whom. We would then have fundamental information necessary in that regard. As we well know, the very large number of persons eligible for free consultancy services as category (1) or category (2) patients who opt for private care, is a matter of concern. I am always interested why they opt or feel they should opt. That information should be available to the Department of Health on a computerised basis particularly in the case of a regional hospital spending £26 million of taxpayers' money every year.

Will that be applicable to all hospitals in all health board areas?

That is my ambition, although it may not be for another two-and-a-half years.

It could be clumsy to operate?

No, there is a thing called computerisation.

I know, but the Minister would need their co-operation.

There should be no difficulty.

Would the Minister have to make it mandatory?

We have a situation whereby consultants are entitled to provide private care for 15 per cent of the population—currently it is about 18 per cent. That is part of the common contract agreement. If somebody opts from category (1) or category (2), such as a medical card holder, and wants to receive private treatment — some do, strange as it may seem — on that basis I want to know (a) who they are, (b) how many there are and (c) what proportion of a consultant's work is devoted to categories (1) and (2). That is all. It is a matter of particular interest and also of importance in terms of the common contract agreement, which is a very unusual contract.

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