The Adelaide Hospital Society has called on the Government to introduce free GP treatment for all on a phased basis.
The society, a voluntary charitable organisation supporting the Adelaide & Meath Hospital in Dublin, made the recommendation in a major policy paper published today.
Entitled Just Caring - Equity and Access in Healthcare A Prescription for Change,the report also calls for the immediate raising of the medical card threshold, the provision of free medical care for all children from 2007 and finance to be made available for a further 3000 acute hospital beds.
Speaking at the launch of the report, society director Dr Fergus O’Farrell said the Government’s health strategy had totally failed with regard to establishing an equitable health service.
"As a society, we provide healthcare according to financial means and social class rather than upon the basis of medical need," he said. "Creeping privatisation of healthcare is not in the national interest."
Dr O’Farrell called for the establishment of an independent expert inquiry that would report to the Oireachtas on inequalities in the health system and suggest ways to address them.
He also urged the Health Service Executive to tap into the extensive voluntary and community healthcare sector, describing it as the "sleeping giant" of the Irish health system.
"Community and voluntary organisations have a unique potential to mobilise public commitment and support for the optimum promotion and protection of the health and welfare of all people," he added.