Vol. 430 No. 8
224 Mr. Broughan asked the Minister for Health the reason the day services ward, Beaumont Hospital has been closed since January 1993; when it will be reopened; and when day ward procedures will resume for patients attending Beaumont Hospital.
There are 12 beds in the day ward at Beaumont Hospital. I understand from the hospital that this ward has not been fully operational as a day ward since January 1993 as many of the beds had to be used to accommodate patients admitted through the Accident and Emergency Department when there were no beds available elsewhere in the hospital. Despite these difficulties, the hospital has treated 149 day cases in March and 109 in April. In addition, the hospital has recently transferred some of its day case waiting list to the five-day surgical ward which will further relieve the pressure on the day ward.
