Richard Bruton
Ceist:137 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Health and Children the total number of elective procedures carried out nationally in 1990, in 1995 and in 2000. [23741/00]
Written Answers. - Hospital Services.
Richard Bruton
Ceist:140 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Health and Children the number of elective procedures carried out for public patients and for private patients at Dublin hospitals in 1990, in 1995 and in the most recent 12 month period. [23748/00]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 137 and 140 together.
The information requested by the Deputy is set out in the table below. The data are derived from the hospital in-patient enquiry, HIPE, database which captures information on all discharges from publicly funded acute hospitals. Prior to 1995, HIPE coverage was incomplete and data are therefore not available. In addition, a public-private indicator of patient status was first introduced in 1999. For earlier years, it is possible to use information on the medical card status of patients as a proxy for a public-private indicator, but this does not take into account the extent to which non-medical card holders avail of their entitlement to public hospital care nor the extent to which medical card holders may opt for private treatment.
The table presents statistics on total elective procedures for 1995 broken down for the Dublin region into medical card holders and others. For 1999, the breakdown is for public and private patients in the Dublin region. National totals for elective procedures are given for both 1995 and 1999. It should be noted that 1999 is the most recent year for which data are available. Elective procedures include surgical operations as well as daycase procedures and diagnostic investigations.
Elective Procedures in Public Hospitals in the Dublin Region and Nationally 1995 and 1999
|
1995 |
Medical Card |
Other |
Total |
1999 |
Public |
Private |
Total |
|
|
Dublin |
75,703 |
33,854 |
109,557 |
120,465 |
35,613 |
156,078 |
||
|
National |
– |
– |
372,660 |
– |
– |
530,844 |
Source: hospital in-patient enquiry (HIPE) system.