Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 9 Oct 2002

Vol. 554 No. 5

Written Answers. - Hospital Accommodation.

Olivia Mitchell

Ceist:

1201 Ms O. Mitchell asked the Minister for Health and Children the number of bed closures to date in 2002 in each of the hospitals in each health board area and in the Eastern Regional Health Authority; the reason for the closures; and the number of bed days which have been lost to each hospital as a consequence of these bed closures. [17227/02]

Minister for Health and Children (Mr. Martin):

The information sought by the Deputy is collected on a quarterly basis by my Department. Figures are available for the first quarter of 2002.

It is a feature of all acute hospital systems that some beds are out of use for short periods. The following table provides a breakdown of the data by health board and by individual hospital.

Eastern Regional Health Authority

Hospital	Average No. of Beds Out of Use for the First Quarter of 2002	Reasons for closures(where provided)	No. of bed days lost in the hospital due to bed closures
The Coombe Women's Hospital	Nil	N/A	N/A
James Connolly Memorial Hospital	Nil	N/A	N/A
Naas General Hospital	Nil	N/A	N/A
St. Columcille's Hospital, Loughlinstown	Nil	N/A	N/A
St. Luke's Hospital, Rathgar	Nil	N/A	N/A
The Children's Hospital Temple Street	4	Infection on ward/ Staff shortages	320
The Mater Hospital	15	Winter Vomiting Bug/ Shortage of nursing staff	1,359
St. Vincent's Hospital	30	Shortage of staff, infection control	1,217
St. James's Hospital	12	Upgrade/ redecoration & electrical maintenance	380
Rotunda	9	Capital Works	472
Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children	12	Maintenance/ staff shortages/ Isolation/ Patient requirement	1,105
National Maternity Hospital	16	Midwifery shortages/ ward refurbishment	1,254
Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital	15	Children's ward closed	1,387
Cappagh Orthopaedic Hospital	21	Isolation beds/ ward renovations	1,910
Beaumont Hospital	8	Seasonal Staff shortages	469
Tallaght Hospital	2	Winter Vomiting Bug	30

Midland Health Board

Hospital	Average No. of Beds Out of Use for the First Quarter of 2002	Reasons for closures(where provided)	No. of bed days lost in the hospital due to bed closures
Tullamore General Hospital	Nil	N/A	N/A
General Hospital, Portlaoise	Nil	N/A	N/A
Longford/Westmeath General Hospital	Nil	N/A	N/A

Mid-Western Health Board

Hospital	Average No. of Beds Out of Use for the First Quarter of 2002	Reasons for closures(where provided)	No. of bed days lost in the hospital due to bed closures
Nenagh General Hospital	Nil	N/A	N/A
St. John's Hospital, Limerick	24	Seasonal/Essential Maintenance/Medical Reasons	31
Ennis General Hospital	Nil	N/A	N/A
Limerick Regional Hospital	Nil	N/A	N/A
Limerick Regional Maternity Hospital	Nil	N/A	N/A
Croom Orthopaedic Hospital	17	Seasonal	340

North-Eastern Health Board

Hospital	Average No. of Beds Out of Use for the First Quarter of 2002	Reasons for closures(where provided)	No. of bed days lost in the hospital due to bed closures
Louth County Hospital, Dundalk	Nil	N/A	N/A
Our Lady of Lourdes Drogheda	26	Refurbishment & elective admissions cancelled	2,203
Our Lady's Navan	37	Installation of Autoclave & Aspergillosis outbreak	31
Cavan General Hospital	20	SRSV outbreak	1,800
Monaghan Hospital	14	Transfer of maternity services	1,260

North-Western Health Board

Hospital	Average No. of Beds Out of Use for the First Quarter of 2002	Reasons for closures(where provided)	No. of bed days lost in the hospital due to bed closures
Sligo General Hospital	22	Seasonal	132
Letterkenny General Hospital	Nil	N/A	N/A

South-Eastern Health Board

Hospital	Average No. of Beds Out of Use for the First Quarter of 2002	Reasons for closures(where provided)	No. of bed days lost in the hospital due to bed closures
Waterford Regional Hospital	Nil	N/A	N/A
Kilcreene Orthopaedic Hospital	Nil	N/A	N/A
Wexford General Hospital	Nil	N/A	N/A
St. Luke's Hospital, Kilkenny	Nil	N/A	N/A
St. Joseph's Hospital, Clonmel	Nil	N/A	N/A
Our Lady's, Cashel	Nil	N/A	N/A

Southern Health Board

Hospital	Average No. of Beds Out of Use for the First Quarter of 2002	Reasons for closures(where provided)	No. of bed days lost in the hospital due to bed closures
Cork University Hospital	Nil	N/A	N/A
Mercy Hospital	Nil	N/A	N/A
Bantry General Hospital	Nil	N/A	N/A
Mallow General Hospital	Nil	N/A	N/A
St. Mary's Orthopaedic Hospital	Nil	N/A	N/A
South Infirmary – Victoria Hospital	23	Seasonal/ Routine Maintenance	391
Tralee General Hospital	Nil	N/A	N/A

Western Health Board

Hospital	Average No. of Beds Out of Use for the First Quarter of 2002	Reasons for closures(where provided)	No. of bed days lost in the hospital due to bed closures
University College Hospital, Galway	13	Seasonal/ Specialist Cleaning	369
Merlin Park Hospital	Nil	N/A	N/A
Roscommon County Hospital	Nil	N/A	N/A
Portiuncula Hospital, Ballinasloe	Nil	N/A	N/A
Mayo General Hospital	Nil	N/A	N/A

(The average number of beds out of use for each hospital does not mean that all the beds were out of use for the full quarter.)