Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 5 December 2019
208. Deputy Stephen Donnelly asked the Minister for Health the number of beds and wards in each public and voluntary acute hospital that were closed on 30 November 2019 or the latest date on which data for validated bed closures at hospital and ward level is available in tabular form. [50882/19]
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 on the Department's website:
https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/d97576-department-of-health-open-beds-report-for-september-2019/
According to provisional data received from the HSE Acute Business Information Unit, there were on average 10,955 inpatient beds and 2,276 day case beds/places available nationally in September 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.
With regard to the Deputy's specific question, I have asked the HSE to respond to the Deputy directly with the requested information.
