The growth in acute hospital activity is supported by the health strategy objectives on bed capacity. The strategy provides for the largest bed capacity expansion in the history of the health service. Notwithstanding current difficulties in the system, commissioning of an additional 709 acute hospital beds for public patients began in 2002, an increase in capacity of 6%. Some 520 of these beds are now in operation and the remainder will shortly come on stream. These extra beds were placed in different hospitals and dependent on the capacity of particular regions and hospitals to accommodate them. Hospitals in Galway and Limerick did particularly well as did St. James's Hospital in Dublin because they had the capacity to absorb additional beds last year. This is the first phase of the provision of 3,000 acute hospital beds by 2011 as announced in the health strategy. Some €118 million in capital and revenue funding has been allocated to increasing bed capacity in 2002-03 and to provide for those 709 beds. The Government remains committed to providing the additional 3,000 beds over the lifetime of the strategy.