Beds in the general hospitals in Cork are used on a flexible basis for scheduled and non-scheduled admissions as required. Most hospitals do not have dedicated elective beds and are not therefore in a position to give a specific breakdown of emergency and non-emergency beds. However, details of the percentage of total admissions which were emergency or elective for the three months in question were obtained from the hospitals and are given beneath. These were also forwarded to the Deputy by letter of 24 April 1990 as promised in response to his parliamentary question No. 187 of 6 March 1990 in this connection. The tabular statement also shows the maximum bed complement for each hospital during the period in question as compared to the bed complement for the same period in 1988/1989. The Deputy will note that additional beds were available during part of the 1989/1990 period to meet the demands of the flu epidemic.
Information on Admissions and Beds Available in Acute Hospitals in Cork, Certain Months 1988-89 and 1989-90