Vol. 479 No. 3
56 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Health the number of public hospital beds currently available in the public health system; and the number of beds which were available in May 1991, May 1987, May 1981, May 1977, and May 1971. [13011/97]
Limerick East): The most recent information on the number of beds available in publicly funded acute hospitals relates to 1996 and is shown in the following table. This figure represents the average number of in-patient beds available for use over the entire year taking beds that have been temporarily closed or opened into account. Prior to 1993 the information collected on bed numbers referred to the total bed complement of all publicly funded acute hospitals at 31 December each year. The earliest year these figures were collected was 1972. Day beds and beds in district and psychiatric hospitals are excluded from the table below.
|
Year |
In-Patient Beds |
|
1972 |
14,478 |
|
1977 |
14,965 |
|
1981 |
15,093 |
|
1987 |
13,078 |
|
1991 |
11,979 |
|
1996 |
11,916* |
