A majority of MPs said on Wednesday they would set aside a report by the health service council which said mergers to create large healthcare organisations often benefit patients.

The report was ‘put together by free market fans’, said Socialist Party MP Agnes Kant. ‘It puts the risks into too much perspective,’ said Jan de Vries of the ruling Christian Democrats. ‘The CDA has no faith in the self-correcting power of a healthcare market.’
MPs had asked for the report because they are opposed to plans by three residential care providers to merge into a massive company with annual turnover of €1.4bn.