Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 18 January 2024
1. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Health the number of acute inpatient beds in the hospital system; the number of beds he will add this year; and if he has secured funding for the needed and promised 1,500 beds. [2054/24]
View answerMy first question is in relation to the number of acute in-patient beds currently in the system, the number of additional acute in-patient beds that will be delivered in 2024 and, crucially, the 1,500 rapid-build beds that were much promised and spoken about last year. When will they be delivered? Has the funding been secured? What is the timeframe for the delivery of those beds?
I thank Deputy Cullinane for the question and his very appropriate ongoing agitation or advocacy for more beds. It is well established and, I think, agreed by all of us that there has been a significant deficit in the number of acute, high-dependency and critical care beds in the system. Since the start of 2020, as the Deputy will be aware, we have been in the process of adding a very significant number of beds. The latest numbers show that since the start of January, we have added 1,126 more hospital beds, a very significant increase. Without a doubt, it is one of the things that is helping to drive down waiting lists. We saw very encouraging results at the end of 2023. We are determined that this year will be the third year in a row in which the waiting lists fall.
Although a significant number of additional beds have been provided, we will all agree that more are required. This year, we have committed to opening an additional 147 beds around the country. In addition, a number of important projects are under way, with either the main buildings now under construction or the enabling works started. These include two 96-bed wards in University Hospital Limerick, UHL, which will provide 192 more beds in the hospital; 42 beds in Sligo where enabling works have been done and we are now looking to tender for the main works; and the net additional beds we will have in the national maternity hospital, where enabling works have commenced, and the national children's hospital, where construction will end later this year.
As I am out of time, I will address the 1,500 beds in my next response.
I welcome any and every additional bed put into the system. The Minister spoke of 1,126 beds that were delivered up to January. That money and those beds were committed to in 2020. In fact, they were to be delivered much quicker. It has taken far too long to deliver all those beds. In my view, that goes back to the need to reform how we deliver major healthcare infrastructure. That is why the 1,500 rapid-build beds were very important. It was my understanding that they would be rapid modular build, could be built much quicker and would not take as long to deliver as the 1,200 beds.
The Minister spoke about 1,126 beds that were delivered. As I said, they were part of the 1,200 beds funded in 2020. We are still delivering some of those. Regarding the 147 beds that will come on-stream this year, I assume some or most of those were also part of the 1,200 beds that were funded many years ago. We need to hear from the Minister what the next step is and where we are as regards the 1,500 rapid-build beds.
Important progress has been made on the 1,500 beds. We are looking at a modular approach and rapid-build technologies, which can cut several years off these projects. Typically, these come in blocks of 24 beds, as do the traditional builds. The Deputy will have seen that they come in blocks of 24 and 48 beds, up to 96 beds, and they come faster. We are looking at them for a number of sites around the country. We have a provisional allocation as regards where we would like to see them in order to provide maximum value. We have already put out an expression of interest to the market. I am happy to say we have had a very strong response to that, both domestically and internationally. I am now working with Government colleagues to find a way to get going on those 1,500 beds. I want to see them being delivered as quickly as possible. We are working on getting to a point where we can announce their construction.
Of course there are plans. That is the problem I have. The frustration is that the Department and HSE have done a lot of work identifying sites and, as the Minister said, looking at where they want the beds to be provided. I assume that will be in areas where there are pressure points. Much of that work has been done. The frustrating part is that these projects can be delivered very quickly. The Minister indicated that work had been done. Expressions of interest have been invited, and it is great there is interest being shown and these projects can happen very quickly, but has the funding been secured? The Minister said he will speak to his colleagues to begin delivering these beds. What does that mean? Will 50, 100 or 200 beds be delivered this year?
Appearing before the Joint Committee on Health, officials promised that 700 of those could be delivered in 2024. I do not see anything like that happening unless significant additional funding is provided. I fear that what will actually happen is that the Department will try to squeeze what it can from the existing capital envelope, which will impact other health projects, rather than doing what should be done, namely, secure the additional capital funding needed to deliver these beds on time, at scale and as quickly as possible.
That is exactly what we want to do. We want to move forward with this as quickly as possible. I am not familiar with the figure of 700 beds but I will check with the officials as regards the thinking behind it.
The Deputy and I are in agreement on the need for more beds. Many beds have been delivered but we want to deliver many more. If we get agreement on providing all 1,500 beds, on the basis that 147 will be provided this year and in excess of 300 more are in the pipeline, there will be close to 500 in the pipeline. This means we will have 1,126 beds, plus the figure of slightly less than 500 and the 1,500. That number of beds will go a very long way.
We also have to keep the focus on productivity. It is not enough to just add more and more beds. We need virtual wards and beds. Critically, we need to reduce the average length of stay, which will free up the existing beds we have for patients.
