Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 22 May 2001

Vol. 536 No. 5

Written Answers. - Security of the Elderly.

Jim O'Keeffe

Question:

96 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Health and Children the number of elderly people in long-term public institutional care and in private nursing homes; and the projected number who will need institutional or nursing home care over the next ten years. [14723/01]

Minister for Health and Children (Mr. Martin)

The number of public and private beds for the care of older people, as at March, 2000, has been supplied by the Health Boards and the Eastern Regional Health Authority and is set out in the following table:

Health Board/Health Authority	No. Public Beds	No. Private Beds (including voluntary)	Total No. Beds	Population per '96 Census(Over 65's)	No. of Beds per 1,000 Population(over 65's)
ERHA	3,090	4,454	7,544	125,271	60.22
MHB	901	625	1,526	25,019	60.99
MWHB	990	1,552	2,542	37,480	67.82
NEHB	928	709	1,637	34,812	47.02
NWHB	946	661	1,607	29,395	54.67
SEHB	1,495	1,181	2,676	46,590	57.44
SHB	1,678	1,840	3,518	66,127	53.20
WHB	1,393	1,615	3,008	49,188	61.15
Total	11,421	12,637	24,058	413,882	58

The number of people over 65 years of age is projected to increase from 413,000 in 1996 to an estimated 503,900 by 2011 which suggests that approximately 300 additional places, nursing beds, will have to be provided for dependent older people each year over the next ten years.