John Bruton (Meath, Fine Gael)
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Question 132: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the way in which the ratio of hospital beds per thousand persons here compares with the OECD average. [18183/04]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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At the outset it should be pointed out that the OECD advises caution in the interpretation of cross-country data on health. Health care systems differ significantly across the range of OECD countries. It should also be noted that the Irish data on the number of acute beds does not include the acute beds located in private hospitals in Ireland while some OECD countries include acute beds in private hospitals.

Based on the most recent set of OECD data, the average number of acute in-patient beds is 3.7 per 1,000 population and the rate for Ireland is 3.0 per 1,000 population.