Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 7 Nov 2000

Vol. 525 No. 2

Written Answers. - Hospital Facilities.

Ivor Callely

Question:

443 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Health and Children if he will give a breakdown of the number of public and private beds in each of the Dublin hospitals; whether this allocation of public/private beds is strictly adhered to; if he will outline the occupancy of such beds for the past 12 months; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24018/00]

Minister for Health and Children (Mr. Martin):

The total number of beds formally approved under article 8 of the Health Services (In-patient) Regulations, 1991, in the Eastern Regional Health Authority as at 1 September 2000, the latest date for which information is available, is 4,851. The breakdown of this number by hospital and by public, private and non-designated beds is set out in the following table:

Hospital	Public	Private/Semi Private	NonDesignated	Total
St. Colmcille's	118	27	5	150
James Connolly	217	27	13	257
Naas	81	7	6	94
Peamont	50	10	0	60
Mater	414	48	21	483
St. James's	497	107	96	700
St. Vincent's	394	48	30	472
Tallaght	315	120	29	464
Beaumont	478	108	41	627
St. Michael's	65	25	5	95
Eye & Ear	58	28	4	90
Crumlin	192	58	8	258
Temple Street	108	31	5	144
Rotunda	108	54	27	189
Holles Street	107	68	31	206
Coombe	123	76	38	237
Cappagh	97	16	13	126
Hume Street	23	8	0	31
St. Luke's	136	34	2	172
Total	3581	900	370	4851

Under the eligibility arrangements which were introduced in 1991, beds in public hospitals are formally designated as public, private or non-designated. The Health Service (In-Patient) Regulations, 1991, which were introduced pursuant to the Health (Amendment) Act, 1991, state that a hospital providing services under sections 52 and 55 of the Health Act, 1970, shall designate every bed, other than non-designated beds, as a designated public bed or a designated private bed. The category non-designated beds refers to beds such as intensive care beds which it was not considered appropriate to designate as public or private.

In its recently published report, "Private Practice in Irish Public Hospitals", the ESRI found that about 20% of in-patient beds in acute public hospitals are currently designated as being for private patient use. The report shows that, of the total number of public bed days used, approximately 6% were used by private patients and about 23% of all in-patient bed-days spent by private patients in public hospitals were in beds designated as public. In addition, the report also shows that there is a crossover of slightly lower absolute volume in the other direction, that is, of public patients into private beds. The authors suggest that improvements to the reporting and monitoring of the arrangements could be piloted in hospitals where "crossover" is most prevalent.

The report states that the main factor identified by hospital management as leading to private patients being accommodated in public beds was admission through accident and emergency departments. This largely reflects the need to accommodate patients in the most appropriate available bed irrespective of its designation. Nonetheless, the study shows that the throughput of patients is consistent with public/private bed designations. The public private mix in public hospitals is under continual assessment by my Department to ensure that the best possible service is available to all patients but particularly the public patient. This assessment includes monitoring of the bed designation system whereby the approval of the Minister for Health and Children must be obtained by public agencies for any increase in the designation.

The Deputy may also be aware that I have initiated a study of bed capacity in response to commitments in the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness. This study is examining both acute and non-acute bed numbers and will deal with issues relating to bed numbers throughout the public system.

The information requested by the Deputy in relation to the occupancy of the beds referred to above is currently being compiled by my Department and will be forwarded to the Deputy as soon it is finalised.

Question No. 444 taken with Question No. 115.