asked the Minister for Health the weekly cost per patient in the Dublin city hospitals.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Cost Per Patient in Dublin Hospital.
3.
The information furnished to my Department by the Hospitals Commission in respect of hospitals participating in the scheme for the payment of grants from the Hospitals Trust Fund towards revenue deficits indicates that the total estimated expenditure in each hospital, averaged over the estimated number of occupied beds, ranges from £18 10s. to £31 12s. per week in the case of teaching hospitals in the Dublin City area. In the non-teaching hospitals, excluding the orthopaedic hospitals which are in a special category, the corresponding figures are £12 15s. and £18 10s.
Estimates supplied by the Dublin Health Authority indicate that the corresponding weekly averages for the hospitals in Dublin City conducted by that Authority range from £8 10s. to £18 3s.
No provision has been made in these figures for the rise in hospital costs which will result from the current round of salary and wage increases.
The Deputy will, of course, appreciate that in making any comparisons between the figures which I have quoted it is necessary to have full regard to the varied nature of the services provided in the different institutions. In particular, the considerable numbers of chronic sick and other long-stay patients accommodated in hospitals conducted by the Dublin Health Authority have the effect of reducing the average cost below the level which would apply if, as in the case of the voluntary hospitals, only patients receiving active treatment were included.