Alan Shatter
Question:469 Mr. Shatter asked the Minister for Health and Children the number of public beds in each of the years 1990 to 1999 at 31 December. [1801/00]
Written Answers. - Hospital Services.
Under eligibility arrangements which were introduced in 1991, beds in public hospitals are formally designated as public, private or non-designated. These designations are subject to the approval of the Minister for Health and Children.
The first designations came into operation in March 1992. The following table sets out the number of designated public hospital beds at 31 December for the years 1992-9.
Considerable care should be taken in interpreting these figures as there has been a very significant shift towards day cases in the overall provision of hospital care. There has been an estimated increase of almost 100% in day cases in the period 1992-9; in regard to the overall increase of hospital throughput at in-patient and day case level, there has been an estimated rise of 26% during the period 1992-9. Also changes have occurred in procedures in out-patient departments whereby cases can now be treated at out-patient level which previously would have required admission to hospitals.
Public Hospital Bed Designations
(Position at 31 December)
|
Year |
Public Beds |
Private/S.Private |
Non-Designated |
Total |
|
1999 |
8,995 |
2,528 |
769 |
12,292 |
|
1998* |
8,991 |
2,526 |
769 |
12,286 |
|
1997 |
9,030 |
2 528 |
768 |
12,326 |
|
1996 |
9,015 |
2,521 |
767 |
12,303 |
|
1995 |
9,016 |
2,503 |
739 |
12,258 |
|
1994 |
9,016 |
2,500 |
739 |
12,255 |
|
1993 |
9,016 |
2,500 |
739 |
12,255 |
|
1992 |
8,852 |
2,349 |
912 |
12,113 |
*The consolidation of beds at Tallaght Hospital from the constituent Meath, Adelaide and National Children's Hospitals has resulted in a temporary reduction in the overall number of designated beds in use. The hospital is in the process of building a 70 to 75 private-semi-private bed facility which is being developed and financed by the hospital itself. When completed this will return the total bed complement to the level it was prior to the move and the revised total nationally will be approximately 12,361. In addition, there are ongoing projects in the planning and construction phases which will provide significant extra bed capacity for the relevant hospitals.
Alan Shatter
Question:470 Mr. Shatter asked the Minister for Health and Children the hospitals which cancelled elective surgery in December 1999 and to date in 2000; the number of patients whose surgery was cancelled; and the areas of speciality concerned. [1802/00]
My Department does not routinely collect information in relation to numbers of cancelled elective procedures.
The level of elective activity in the acute hospital system is planned by local management over a 12 month period having regard to anticipated levels of emergency admissions and the overall resources available. This forms a central part of the service planning process which is required of health boards under the Health (Amendment) Act, 1996.
The unpredictable nature of activity generated by emergency admissions means that cancellations of elective procedures are inevitable from time to time as the system tries to cope with unexpected peaks. As part of the service planning process, it is a matter for agencies to attempt to take account of these peaks and troughs when planning their elective activity levels over a 12 month period. It is important that cancellations of elective procedures are viewed, therefore, in the context of overall levels of activity delivered in the acute hospital sector against agreed service plans for the 12 month period. In this context, it should be noted that the total number of discharges, both in-patient and day-patient, for all hospitals for the first nine months of 1999 was 631,998 which was over 4% of an increase on the figure of 606,619 for the same period in 1998.