Contracts with the private developers who have tendered to build the hospitals will be awarded by mid-April. The contracts will be legally binding yet so far there is little clarity on how the hospitals will operate . . . especially as talks over new consultants' contracts have, again, hit a wall.

The aim of the plan is to free up 1,000 beds in public hospitals and, according to the HSE, the private hospitals will have strong clinical links with the public hospitals whose campuses they share. Medical records could be shared, they would provide training facilities for doctors and nurses and, although A&E would remain under the remit of the public hospital, the private clinics would accept admissions on a 24/7 basis.

How any of this can work on a practical basis is, however, a mystery to all but the HSE.

The health service is currently immersed in tough negotiations with consultants as they renegotiate their contracts. The HSE has said new contracts must be "public only" and must preclude the lucrative "off-site private" work consultants are currently allowed to practice with the back-up of public-sector facilities and staff. How the new "co-located" private hospitals work into this equation is another black hole that needs light shone into it before public money is spent.

And while it may raise a cheer in some quarters, many of the interests already involved in private hospitals have also expressed fears that this new breed of facility could lead to an oversupply of private beds in this country . . . perhaps hitting the older, independent clinics hardest.

Both public and private patients need much more information about how the co-located hospitals will work together . . . in their interests . . .

before irrevocable contracts are signed.