New Hospital Beds must be prioritised in Revised NDP based on ESRI forecast
New Hospital Beds must be prioritised in Revised NDP based on ESRI forecast - The Labour Party
- 40% increase in public acute beds needed by 2040.
- Long term commitments needed now to ensure future demand is met.
- Capacity of Emergency Departments must be increased.
Responding to the ESRI forecasts projecting a need for up to 8,000 additional public hospital beds by 2040, Labour Health spokesperson Marie Sherlock said the upcoming revised National Development Plan must provide for the forecast demand and ensure our health service has the capacity it needs with capacity in EDs and ICU a serious concern.
Deputy Sherlock said:
“The failure to embed long term planning in our health service has caused many of the problems we now have to grapple but the ESRI report today confirms the need to expand public acute hospital capacity by at least 40% over the next 15 years. The projected requirements are for an extra 4,400 to 6,800 inpatient beds, and a further 650 to 950 day patient beds by 2040, setting out in clear terms the scale of delivery needed.
“The government will soon publish a revised National Development Plan and it must include concrete commitments up to 2030 to deliver new public hospital beds, and further outline a roadmap to meet expected capacity for the decade after.
“It is clear that Health will require increased capital funding to deliver projects already underway, and I would question how sufficient current plans are. The revised NDP must provide funded commitments to ensure public beds are built.
“Based on the record of the government parties I am concerned whether the proposed 3,378 new beds they have promised will be delivered by 2031 when only 1,218 new acute in-patient beds were opened in the previous 5 years. The delays in opening the National Children’s Hospital, and beginning work on the National Maternity Hospital raise serious questions about the timeline for new surgical hubs and dedicated elective hospitals.
“In our election manifesto Labour outlined the long term need to ensure 5,000 new acute beds are delivered up to 2031, equivalent to a further 300 on top of existing plans. The ESRI projections confirm what we proposed last November. This is the level of investment needed to ensure our health system is future proofed and can safely meet patient demand.
“I am also concerned about the capacity of our Emergency Departments, with attendances expected to grow by up to 27%, meaning a further half a million people will be seeking to access an already stretched system. We also need more ICU beds, with an audit report published by the NOCA showing that occupancy is at 95%, well above the recommended level of 85%.
“Occupancy rates across all beds is at nearly 93%, showing how our current infrastructure is being stretched and at risk of overcapacity. The revised NDP must deliver the health capacity Ireland needs.”