Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 27 Apr 1993

Vol. 429 No. 6

Written Answers. - Hospital Patient Statistics.

Liz McManus

Question:

287 Ms McManus asked the Minister for Health if he will give a breakdown of the figures for 1991 and 1992 of inpatients and outpatients at each of the acute general hospitals both public and voluntary, in the country; the average duration of stay; and the estimated daily cost per inpatient.

Minister for Health (Mr. Howlin)

The information sought by the Deputy on patient numbers and duration of stay is set out in the following Table 1.

In relation to costs, my Department has been developing detailed mechanisms for attributing hospital costs to the different elements of the hospital's activity. These mechanisms enable more reliable estimates to be made of the daily cost per in-patient than was previously the case. At present, this information is available for twenty of the biggest hospitals, and is set out for 1991 in Table 2. 1992 figures are not as yet available. These figures exclude costs attributable to out-patient services, long-stay cases, day cases and dialysis. It should be noted that they do not take account of capital costs.

Table 1

Numbers of In-Patients Discharged, Out-Patient Attendances and Average Length of Stay by Health Board Area and Hospital 1991 and 1992.

Health Board Area & Hospital	In-Patients Discharged	Out-Patient Attendances	Average Length of Stay (in days)
1991	1992*	1991	1992*	1991	1992*
Eastern
Health Board Hospitals
Cherry Orchard, Dublin	3,427	3,310	0	0	7.2	7.1
James Connolly	7,343	7,925	35,578	40,062	9.4	9.1
Loughlinstown	5,239	5,551	17,520	19,003	7.4	7.3
Naas	3,674	4,124	17,847	15,963	7.5	8.6
Voluntary Hospitals
Adelaide	4,824	4,711	37,263	39,100	8.7	8.8
Beaumont	19,154	19,938	101,842	108,586	10.2	10.3
Coombe	13,129	12,229	54,635	55,166	4.8	4.6
Hume St.	510	509	10,606	11,112	9.5	10.4
Inc. Orthopaedic, Clontarf	785	899	556	485	40.6	34.7
Mater	22,455	23,598	110,036	104,429	7.4	6.9
Meath	8,799	8,665	31,870	34,932	9.4	9.6
National Children's	6,696	6,875	18,740	20,657	2.3	2.3
National Maternity	11,605	12,548	40,943	42,114	4.3	4.1
N.M.R.C., Dún Laoghaire	1,089	1,011	4,006*	2,965	38.2	40.8
Our Lady's, Crumlin	15,042	16,308	32,635	43,560	4.9	4.3
Rotunda	12,031	11,571	49,188	50,289	4.2	4
Royal Victoria Eye & Ear	5,839	6,302	34,544	36,541	2.9	2.7
St. Anne's	1,659	1,700	17,091	16,407	9.1	8.8
St. James's	20,141	20,830	114,225	121,988	9.4	9.6
St. Luke's	2,280	2,033	48,655	50,296	15.7	15.6
St. Mary's, Baldoyle	135	134	0	0	186.2	188.9
St. Mary's Cappagh	3,005	3,237	2,707	2,627	10	9.9
St. Michael's, Dún Laoghaire	4,710	4,879	16,763	18,179	5.6	5.5
St. Vincent's	15,716	15,865	72,979	78,872	9.1	9.1
Temple St.	7,735	7,475	35,822	38,365	4.5	4.5
Totals — Eastern	197,022	202,227	906,051	951,698	7.6	7.5
Midland
Health Board Hospitals
Mullingar	10,003	10,039	15,923	16,891	5.5	5.7
Portlaoise	6,938	7,163	21,801	22,272	5	4.8
Tullamore	7,490	7,553	21,745	21,736	7.8	7.6
Totals — Midland	24,431	24,755	59,469	60,899	6.1	6
Mid-Western
Health Board Hospitals
Ennis	4,182	4,113	14,253	11,947	6.8	6.7
Limerick Maternity	5,078	5,553	14,197	14,467	4.7	4.4
Limerick Regional	17,544	17,924	45,117	46,745	6.3	6.1
Nenagh	4,021	4,165	10,767	11,086	5.6	5.7
St. Nessan's, Croom	1,739	1,801	4,958	1,831	13.5	12
Voluntary Hospitals
St. John's, Limerick	3,174	3,094	7,579	8,736	9.6	9.9
Totals — Mid-Western	35,738	36,650	96,871	94,812	6.7	6.5
North-Eastern
Health Board Hospitals
Cavan General	7,192	7,911	22,988	26,623	7.3	6.7
Dundalk	6,276	6,291	16,012	17,128	6	6.1
Monaghan	5,569	5,502	15,247	15,493	7	6.7
Navan	6,813	6,601	16,471	17,036	6.9	7.7
Voluntary Hospitals
Lourdes, Drogheda	14,067	14,683	43,818	45,447	6.6	6.4
Totals — North-Eastern	39,917	40,988	114,536	121,727	6.8	6.7
North-Western
Health Board Hospitals
Letterkenny	13,423	14,841	40,121	44,695	5	4.9
Manorhamilton	861	877	1,755	2,019	19.8	21.9
Sligo	14,422	15,818	28,218	32,438	6.1	5.8
Totals — North-Western	28,706	31,536	70,094	79,152	6	5.8
South-Eastern
Health Board Hospitals
Ardkeen, Waterford	16,680	17,924	33,936	35,646	5.7	5.4
Cashel	3,623	3,741	7,695	8,665	5.1	4.8
Clonmel	6,498	6,709	12,608	13,059	7.6	7.2
Kilcreen, Kilkenny	1,672	1,420	4,967	5,024	11.2	10.3
Kilkenny	10,364	10,688	20,385	20,136	5.3	5.2
Wexford General	9,254	10,654	24,659	27,725	5.8	5.3
Voluntary Hospitals Waterford Maternity	2,891	2,874	10,661	10,803	4.9	4.8
Totals — South-Eastern	50,982	54,010	114,911	121,058	6	5.6
Southern
Health Board Hospitals
Bantry	2,442	2,440	5,241	5,389	10	11.2
Cork Regional	28,323	28,097	95,356	96,124	6.2	6.2
Erinville, Cork	4,364	4,382	13,671	12,966	4.3	4.5
Mallow	3,537	3,839	8,870	8,138	6.5	6.1
St. Finbarr's, Cork	4,406	4,324	10,363	11,063	10.9	10.3
St. Mary's, Gurranebraher	2,956	3,063	1,273	1,243	9.7	9.7
Tralee	13,143	12,610	38,452	39,714	5.2	5.6
Voluntary Hospitals
Mercy, Cork	12,886	12,443	21,625	20,569	5.3	5.3
South Infirmary/Victoria	7,781	8,118	31,143	31,981	6.5	6.2
Totals — Southern	79,838	79,316	225,994	227,187	5.7	5.8
Western
Health Board Hospitals
Castlebar	12,703	13,231	21,779	22,114	5	4.9
Merlin Park, Galway	5,390	5,394	13,746	14,262	10.2	10.2
Roscommon	3,321	3,749	18,560	11,740	6.1	6.5
University Hospital, Galway	22,964	22,088	60,173	64,367	7.2	7.7
Voluntary Hospitals Portiuncula, Ballinasloe	9,717	9,689	20,151	20,501	5.5	5.8
Totals — Western	54,095	54,151	134,409	132,984	6.6	6.8
Grand Totals	510,729	523,633	1,722,335	1,789,517	6.8	6.7

Table 2

Estimated Dail Cost per In-Patient 1991

Hospital	£
James Connolly	161
Loughlinstown	141
Beaumont	221
Mater	208
Meath	164
St. James's	190
St. Vincent's	192
Portlaoise	129
Tullamore	125
Limerick Regional	118
Cavan General	128
Lourdes, Drogheda	141
Letterkenny	147
Sligo	165
Ardkeen, Waterford	158
Cork Regional	176
Mercy, Cork	143
Castlebar	165
University Hospital, Galway	145
Portiuncula, Ballinasloe	140

Pádraic McCormack

Question:

288 Mr. McCormack asked the Minister for Health when funds will be available to open a cardiac unit at University Hospital, Galway.

Minister for Health (Mr. Howlin)

The present position is that cardiac surgery for public patients is performed in three locations — the National Cardiac Unit at the Mater Hospital, Dublin, Cork Regional Hospital and Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children, Crumlin.

In 1990, a working group which was chaired by the Chief Medical Officer of my Department recommended a significant expansion of cardiac surgery services. Specifically, the Group recommended that cardiac surgery services should be further developed in Cork Regional Hospital to provide for a doubling in the number of public open heart procedures which could be carried out in that centre. It also recommended that the capacity to carry out public open heart procedures should be increased by one third within the Dublin area. The working group and the cardiac surgeons considered that the proposed increased capacity for open heart surgery at Dublin and Cork would meet the national requirements for the foreseeable future.

I would like to explain that my predecessor accepted the recommendations of the working group. This has been Departmental policy since 1990 and has not been changed by me since assuming office.

In the light of the representations made by Croi, the West of Ireland Cardiology Foundation, I am arranging to meet shortly with their representatives.