Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. I looked into this and was advised that the HSE does not collect that specific information centrally. When I was preparing for this session, I noted that the Deputy's direct question had not been answered so I asked the Department to see if that information could be collected. The HSE collects data on cancellations locally but not centrally. Arguably, that is something that should be done. Capacity is obviously one of the big issues. There is an acknowledged deficit in critical care capacity in the country. We came into this pandemic with 255 beds. The capacity review says that we should have in excess of 400 beds. The target for the end of next year or early in the following year is 340 beds. This would represent a 33% increase in our permanent standing critical care stock since the start of the pandemic last year. That is a very significant increase.

One of the big constraints is critical care staff so highly specialised nurses and doctors are required. There is a lot of investment, building and recruitment to build up critical care capacity and, indeed, the entire patient flow so that we do not have these cancellations, which obviously are absolutely awful for the patients and their families. Indeed, it is awful for the healthcare workforce who are trying to provide these patients with the best possible care.

In terms of the private capacity, we have used about 65,000 private hospital bed days this year so far and that is about 20,500 patients. In critical care units, surge plans remain in place and are being activated, as needed. The latest information that I have from the HSE is that we have surge capacity, if needed through the winter, for about 380 critical care beds. Obviously that is not a surge capacity that we hope to activate.

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