Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 27 July 2021
2589. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Health the estimated cost of adding additional hospital beds, ICU and critical care beds and mental health beds to the health service by the individual cost of each bed. [38295/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraSeveral factors determine the capital cost of a bed. These include the nature of the bed (day case, long-term stay, etc.), and the bed’s location (within an existing facility, within a new extension to an existing facility, etc.). As such, there is no one capital cost for providing an additional bed.
A recent review of bed costings determined an average capital cost per bed to be in the region of:
Non Acute Bed - €0.35m to €0.45m
Acute Bed - €0.50m - €0.8m
Critical Care Bed - €1.40m to €1.80m
The estimates exclude any significant enabling works e.g. decant costs as well as other accommodation that may be required to support this additional capacity e.g. diagnostics, theatre space etc. Capital costs are naturally subject to variations with some sites requiring more investment depending on location, project scale, complexity of the site, existing infrastructure, site conditions, design etc. Costs per bed will vary depending on the size of the proposed development. Economies of scale would impact on the per bed cost.
