asked the Minister for Health the number of public beds in public hospitals which have been converted into pay beds since he assumed office.
36.
Written Answers. - Hospital Beds.
28.
asked the Minister for Health the number of acute public hospital beds which were in the country when he assumed office; and the current number.
213.
asked the Minister for Health the total number of acute beds available in public hospitals; if he will give a breakdown of these beds in terms of medical and surgical; the number of acute beds per 1,000 population; and the way in which this figure compares with other countries in Europe.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 28, 36 and 213 together.
The detailed information requested by the Deputies is not yet available to my Department. Detailed activity statistics in respect of each acute hospital is currently being collected. However, on 31 December 1986 there existed a total acute hospital bed complement of approximately 14,000 beds. A recent survey by my Department showed that there were approximately 11,200 such beds in use on 1 October 1988, of which it is estimated 2,000 are non-public beds.
The reduction in hospital beds over the last two years was necessary to effect a long overdue rationalisation of acute hospital services in this country. This reduction in bed numbers has been offset by increased activity on an out-patient basis and by the provision of day beds and 5-day beds which has enabled a large number of procedures to be carried out far more efficiently than heretofore.
The number of acute consultantstaffed hospital beds in use in the State represents roughly 3.2 beds per thousand population. I propose to circulate in the Official Report a tabular statement showing the bed/population ratios per 1,000 population in eight EC Member States. However, these comparisons need to be treated with caution since the categories of beds can be defined differently in the various countries.
|
Number of beds per 1,000 population |
|
|
Ireland |
3.2 |
|
UK |
2.7 |
|
Belgium |
3.1 |
|
Spain |
3.9 |
|
Netherlands |
4.8 |
|
Germany |
7.6 |
|
Denmark |
5.5 |
|
France |
6.1 |