Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 11 May 2000

Vol. 519 No. 1

Written Answers. - Health Service Statistics.

Noel Ahern

Question:

132 Mr. N. Ahern asked the Minister for Health and Children the number of hospital admissions, operations and procedures, outpatient appointments, consultants and staff of all grades in medical, administrative and service grades in the general health service for each of the past ten years. [13226/00]

Minister for Health and Children (Mr. Martin)

The information requested by the Deputy is provided in the tables below.

Data on procedures are available from the hospital in-patient inquiry – HIPE – system which records information on hospitalisations in all publicly funded acute hospitals. The data available in respect of 1994 to 1999 are set out in Table 1. Prior to 1994 the system was not sufficiently comprehensive to report national totals reliably.

The data in Table 3 are taken from the annual health service personnel census. The latest year available is 1998. The 1999 census is in the process of being collected and collated.

Table 1

Publicly Funded Acute Hospitals:

Number of In-Patient Admissions, Out-Patient Attendances and Procedures Performed, 1990 to 1999*

Year	In-Patient Admissions (including Day Cases)	Out-Patient Attendances	Procedures Performed
1990	639,701	1,651,400	N.A.
1991	653,910	1,731,524	N.A.
1992	666,286	1,776,055	N.A.
1993	709,504	1,792,925	N.A.
1994	715,821	1,832,011	463,805
1995	736,701	1,862,745	546,051
1996	771,693	1,901,292	632,032
1997	786,289	1,902,802	719,095
1998	807,348	1,935,699	805,944
*1999*	826,122	1,919,602	884,173

N.A. indicates "Not Available".

*Data for 1999 are provisional.

Table 2

Number of Consultant Posts in the Public Sector at 1 January 1991 to 2000

Year	Number
1991	1,139
1992	1,158
1993	1,170
1994	1,186
1995	1,216
1996	1,270
1997	1,292
1998	1,327
1999	1,388
2000	1,440

Source: Comhairle na nOspidéal.

Table 3

Wholetime Equivalent Numbers Employed in the Public Health Services at 31 December 1989 to 1998

Year	Management/Admin.	Medical/Dental	Nursing	Para-Medical	SupportServices	Maintenance/Technical	Total
1989	6,445	3,897	24,162	4,027	16,958	1,785	57,275
1990	6,607	3,994	24,732	4,180	17,503	1,722	58,737
1991	6,763	4,100	25,215	4,299	17,394	1,726	59,497
1992	6,930	4,155	25,867	4,395	17,413	1,701	60,461
1993	7,243	4,310	26,304	4,628	17,645	1,686	61,815
1994	7,607	4,417	26,917	5,024	18,275	1,698	63,938
1995	7,885	4,581	27,359	5,345	18,345	1,655	65,169
1996	8,151	4,684	27,264	5,576	18,461	1,618	65,755
1997	8,794	4,976	27,426	5,969	19,112	1,618	67,895
1998	9,474	5,153	26,695	6,422	20,356	1,626	69,726

Notes:

(i) The grade category of management/administration also includes such staff as consultant's secretaries, community welfare officers, out-patient department personnel, ward clerks, medical records personnel, telephonists and computer personnel who are engaged in front line duties.

(ii) Slight discrepancies in reported figures are due to rounding.

Source: Health Service Personnel Census, Department of Health and Children.