Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 26 January 2006
45 Mr. Connolly asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children the relative position of Ireland on an EU table vis-a-vis the per capita number of hospital beds; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2627/06]
View answerThe World Health Organisation's European Health for All database of June 2005 shows that the number of acute care beds in Ireland in 2003 was three per 1,000 population and that the EU average for the same year was four per 1,000 population.
The organisation advises caution in the interpretation of the cross-country data in the database. Health data recording systems and practices vary between countries as do the availability and accuracy of data. Data comparability is also limited, owing to differences in definitions and-or time periods or other national specificities in data recording and processing. For example, the Irish data do not include day beds. Day activity is now a significant component of hospital-based care. There has been a rapid movement in the last few years towards day case work where a variety of routine and complex treatments, surgery and diagnostic tests can now be performed with the patient being admitted and discharged from hospital on the same day. In addition, the Irish data does not include acute beds located in private hospitals whereas some other countries include private beds and-or long-term care beds.
It should also be noted that the acute bed numbers per capita do not take account of variations in the age structure of the population in different countries. Acute bed usage tends to be concentrated in the older age groups both in terms of admission rates and average lengths of stay. Within the EU, Ireland continues to have a significantly younger population than the average.
