Dáil debates

Tuesday, 16 January 2018

2:25 pm

Photo of Leo VaradkarLeo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

If Deputy Micheál Martin wants to see the figures, they are available in the key trends in health document published by the Department at the end of each year. From 2007 onwards, the number of acute hospital beds was reduced every year. In 2015, however, as Minister for Health, I took the decision to reverse that trend and started to increase the number of acute hospital beds again. The figure increased in 2016 and 2017 and additional beds will be provided this year in Beaumont Hospital, St. James's Hospital, St. Luke's Hospital, Kilkenny, Drogheda hospital, Limerick hospital and Galway hospital, with a modular build under way at Clonmel hospital. It is not the case that this is a simple matter. Where we have put more beds into the system, it has not always resulted in reduced overcrowding, yet significant changes to practices have made a big difference in other places. The Government will do all it can in the short to medium term to alleviate the problem.

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