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Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 5 Nov 2002

Vol. 556 No. 3

Written Answers. - Hospital Services.

Bernard Allen

Ceist:

570 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Health and Children if he proposes to set up an inspectorate of general hospitals, public and private, similar to the inspectorate that exists for mental hospitals. [20572/02]

Quality is one of the four main principles underlying the strategy, Quality and Fairness – A Health System for You. To facilitate the promotion of quality nationally, my Department is currently examining issues relevant to the establishment of a national hospitals agency and a health information and quality authority, both of which will have implications for the future development of a quality hospital service.

I recently established the Irish Health Services Accreditation Board which will have responsibility for the administration and implementation of a quality assurance framework in respect of the hospital sector. Accreditation is an internationally recognised process which combines self-assessment and external peer review of an organisation's performance against a series of predetermined standards. The objective is to encourage health agencies to focus on ways to continuously improve the health care delivery system. The Irish scheme is designed to be patient-focused, promote continuous quality improvement and safety, and to be independent, voluntary, authoritative and achieve international recognition. I am confident that the scheme will allow for real and measurable improvement in standards across the hospital system.

Bernard Allen

Ceist:

571 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Health and Children if his Department's target for the creation of additional acute hospital beds will be met for 2002. [20573/02]

The health strategy, Quality and Fairness – A Health System for You, outlines a programme of investment and reform of the health services up to 2011. As part of the preparatory work for the strategy my Department, in conjunction with the Department of Finance and in consultation with the social partners, conducted a comprehensive review of acute hospital bed capacity needs. On foot of the subsequent report entitled, Acute Hospital Bed Capacity – A National Review, the Government decided, in the context of the strategy, to provide an additional 3,000 beds in acute hospitals over the next ten years. This represents the largest ever concentrated expansion of acute hospital capacity in Ireland.

In tandem with the publication of the report, I announced the first phase of these additional beds with the commissioning of an extra 709 beds in acute hospitals at a cost of €65 million. I am pleased to inform the Deputy that 272 of these beds have been commissioned under this initiative to date. The latest advice to my Department from the Eastern Regional Health Authority, ERHA, and the health boards indicates that in excess of 600 beds will be in place by year end and that the remainder will be commissioned early in the new year.

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