Consultants criticise lack of commitment to open more hospital beds in HSE plan

Michael Bolton

The organisation representing hospital consultants has criticised the Health Service Executive (HSE) for failing to outline the number of additional general acute hospital beds this year.

The Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly has previously announced plans to open 147 additional acute beds in 2024.

The Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) said the figure is significantly below what is required to start addressing the severe overcrowding in our public hospitals and tackle the persistently high waiting times for treatment.

The Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) estimated public acute hospitals need 1,000 additional inpatient beds immediately and an extra 330 beds a year just to keep up with demand.

A spokesperson for the group said “It is deeply disappointing that the Service Plan for 2024 has failed to commit to opening a specified number of additional general public hospital beds this year.

“Even if all of the 147 additional beds promised by the Minister for 2024 are opened on time, this would mean a net increase of just 45 hospital beds over and above where we should have been at more than a year ago.

“This level of bed expansion, if delivered, is far less than provided for in the National Development Plan, which averages 260 beds per annum, a level the Minister for Health is on record as stating “lowballed” the hospital capacity needs in the first place.

“It is also regrettable that the HSE and Government continues to renege on its pledge to commit the €1 billion in funding required to open 1,500 additional rapid build hospital beds across 15 acute public hospital sites this year.

“At the same time, the delivery of the promised six surgical hubs and long awaited four elective hospitals must be accelerated in order to provide the capacity that is required to meet all of the Government’s waiting list reduction targets.

“It is also particularly concerning that the National Service Plan only delivers a modest increase in the Mental Health Budget to €1.308 billion in 2024. This is an increase of just €34 million (2.7 per cent) on the revised 2023 Budget of €1.274 billion."

The Government allocated a record €23.5 billion to the HSE for this year in Budget 2024, an increase of some 4.6 per cent on last year’s budget