Vol. 471 No. 2
84 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Health the average bed stay costs for keeping a patient in care in an acute general hospital, a psychiatric hospital, in nursing home care and in hostel care; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20531/96]
Limerick East): In regard to the average bed stay costs for acute general hospitals, my Department is continuing the development of detailed mechanisms for attributing acute hospital costs to the different elements of a hospital's activity. At present, this information is available for 26 of the biggest hospitals, and the average in-patient cost per bed day which has been extracted from the cost and activity information supplied by those hospitals ranges from £131 to £257 for 1994.
It should be noted that there are many factors which affect in-patient cost per bed day and these include, in particular, case mix, workload and teaching obligations. This figure excludes costs and activity attributable to day cases, out-patient services, long stay cases, dialysis, obstetrics and psychiatry. It does not take account of capital costs.
With regard to average bed stay costs for a psychiatric hospital, in nursing home care and in hostel care, the Department is requesting this information from the health boards. When this has been furnished, I will contact the Deputy.
