Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 11 June 2019
566. Deputy Stephen Donnelly asked the Minister for Health the number of beds and wards in all public and voluntary acute hospitals that were closed on 31 May 2019, or the latest date on which data for validated bed closures at hospital and ward level are available, in tabular form. [23903/19]
View answerThe Open Beds Report, published by my Department monthly, provides a summary of the average numbers of open inpatient beds and day beds/places in the acute hospital system based on data provided by the HSE. It can be found here: https://health.gov.ie/blog/publications/department-of-health-open-beds-report-march-2019/.
According to provisional data received from the HSE Acute Business Information Unit, there were on average 10,984 inpatient beds and 2,233 day case beds/places available nationally in April 2019.
Information relating to closed beds is collated at a particular date in time. The number of beds closed can fluctuate greatly from day to day for a variety of reasons, including on-going refurbishment, maintenance work, and infection control measures.
In relation to the specific data requested, I have asked the HSE to respond to the Deputy directly.
