Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. I am aware that he is asking this question on behalf of Deputy Troy. I might use this opportunity to congratulate Deputy Troy and his wife on the birth of their baby last night. It is a joyous occasion indeed.

With regard to the beds, it is well recognised that there is a need to improve patient flow and ensure sufficient capacity for both scheduled and unscheduled care. Earlier this year, I asked the HSE to put a plan in place to accelerate the construction and delivery of an additional 1,500 hospital beds right across the country. This is on top of the more than 1,000 additional hospital beds that have been added, and this will be on top of the 162 more that are to be added next year on top of the beds that have been added this year.

The HSE has been identifying, through the existing hospitals, the hospitals under pressure and which we all know need more beds, and also those that are in a good state to rapidly deliver the beds. This approach is supported by a demand-and-capacity analysis. I have asked the HSE and the Department to provide me with the additional bed requirement to achieve the 85% capacity rate we are all signed up to.

To reduce the time taken and the cost, it is proposed that the projects would be delivered using rapid build or standardised, repeatable design solutions, with standard schedules of accommodation, using off-site manufacturing techniques and an accelerated project delivery process. It is expected that this approach will result in a bed cost half the cost of a traditional build bed.

An expression of interest was published in March 2023. There was much interest in it in Ireland and elsewhere around the world. I will update the Deputy further in my next contribution.

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