Hospital Beds Data

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 October 2018

Tuesday, 23 October 2018

Questions (430)

Stephen Donnelly

Question:

430. Deputy Stephen S. Donnelly asked the Minister for Health the number of new acute beds opened in 2018; the locations of those beds; the breakdown of those beds by type, for example, ICU, HDU, ward and rehab; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43643/18]

Written answers

Minister for Health

Increasing bed capacity is a Government priority.

Over the past 12 months an additional 240 beds have been opened of which:

- 148 opened by end quarter 4 2017; as detailed in Table 1

- 92 opened by end quarter 3 2018, as detailed in Table 2

A further 79 additional beds are planned for quarter 4 2018 and early 2019, as detailed in Table 3.

Table 3 does not take account of the impact of the €10 million in funding in Budget 2019 to increase acute bed capacity in line with the recommendations of the Health Service Capacity Review. My Department is currently in discussions with the HSE, in the context of the National Service Plan 2019, to identify the sites for investment and the associated number of beds, as part of an agreed capacity programme for 2019.

Table 1 - Q4 2017 Acute Beds 

Hospital Group	Hospital	Type of bed	Number of beds
RCSI	Our Lady of Lourdes Drogheda	Acute beds (part of new bed block)	25
RCSI	Beaumont Hospital	Acute beds	20
Dublin Midlands	St James’ Hospital	Acute beds	23
Dublin Midlands	Naas General Hospital	Acute beds	11
Ireland East	The Mater Hospital	Acute beds	24
Saolta	Galway University Hospital	Acute beds	28
UL	Limerick University Hospital	Short Stay beds	17
Total			148

Table 2: Q1 - Q3 2018 Acute Beds

Hospital Group	Hospital	Type of bed	Number of beds
Ireland East	St Vincent’s Hospital	Acute beds	22
Ireland East	Mater Misericordiae University Hospital	HDU beds	2
Ireland East	St Luke’s Hospital Kilkenny	Acute beds	14
RCSI	Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital Drogheda	Acute beds (part of new ward block)	4
South South West	Cork University Hospital	Acute beds	30
South South West	Cork University hospital	Critical care beds	2
South South West	Waterford University Hospital	Acute beds	18
Total			92

Table 3:  Planned beds - Q4 2018 and early 2019 

Hospital Group	Hospital	Type of bed	Number of beds
Ireland East	Mater	ICU	1 (2018)
Ireland East	Mater	HDU	4 (early 2019)
South South West	Cork	HDU	4 (Q1 2019)
South South West	South Tipperary General Hospital	Acute beds (additional modular ward)	40 (2019)
RCSI	Our Lady of Lourdes Drogheda	Acute beds (additional ward)	30 (early 2019)
Total			79