Hospital bed capacity
Fiona O'Loughlin highlights rising trolley numbers and overcrowding, including in Naas and other non-Dublin hospitals. The Taoiseach says the bed capacity review report is due in September, but the Government is already taking action and says overcrowding is influenced by more than beds alone.
I refer to page 58 of the programme for Government on the issue of capacity within hospitals. The latest figures released by the INMO are very troubling, particularly for hospitals outside Dublin, in that there have been significant increases in the numbers of patients on trolleys and the level of overcrowding. More than 51,000 patients have been impacted on, including 1,695 in Naas, County Kildare, in the past six months. The figure is significantly higher than at the same time last year. It is now the summer, but it will not be that long before we will have to prepare for the winter. It is very worrying that the position is getting worse; it is certainly not getting better. What measures are the Government going to put in place, with the Minister for Health, to make sure we not find ourselves in a more difficult situation?
Comment on this
The report on the bed capacity review is due in September and will inform the capital plan thereafter. Of course, the Government and the Minister are not going to wait for the report on a bed capacity review to take action.
An additional 102 beds were brought into the system last year and 300 the year previously, and anything that can be done to increase capacity in our hospitals and reduce attendance at our hospitals will be done in the time ahead.
I had a look at the figures, and I have always taken an interest in the area, being a medical professional and having served as Minister for Health. While overall the figures certainly show a disimprovement and underline the fact we need to do a lot more, it is interesting to see the variation from hospital to hospital. For example, according to the INMO figures Beaumont Hospital has had its lowest overcrowding since records began, and this is a hospital with an ageing population with no additional beds. Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown, an area with a massively growing population, has its lowest overcrowding in ten years.
Comment on this
St. Vincent's hospital has its second lowest overcrowding in ten years, with one exception, and this is notwithstanding the fact the accident and emergency department at St. Columcille's Hospital closed. Kilkenny, which has a new emergency department and additional staff, has its worst overcrowding in ten years. Anyone who thinks overcrowding is directly linked to beds and staffing can see it is clearly not the case and there are many other factors at play.