Vol. 561 No. 1
419 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Health and Children the number of hospital beds in respect of various categories currently required in accordance with best practice; the number of beds available; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3750/03]
The health strategy outlines a programme of investment and reform of the health services up to 2011. As part of the preparatory work for the strategy, my Department, in conjunction with the Department of Finance and in consultation with the social partners, conducted a comprehensive review of acute hospital bed capacity needs. On foot of the subsequent report, Acute Hospital Bed Capacity – A National Review, the Government decided, in the context of the strategy, to provide an additional 3,000 beds in acute hospitals over the next ten years. This represents the largest ever concentrated expansion of acute hospital capacity in Ireland. In 2002, I announced the first phase of these additional beds with the commissioning of an extra 709 beds in acute hospitals. I am pleased to inform the House that 520 of these beds are in operation and the remaining beds will be brought into use shortly. My Department is currently addressing the national speciality and regional issues associated with the allocation of the remainder of the 3,000 acute beds. Based on provisional figures provided to my Department by health agencies for the first eleven months of 2002, there was an average of 12,219 acute hospital in-patient beds available.
