Paudge Connolly (Cavan-Monaghan, Independent)
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Question 193: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children the cost of a trolley bed in each hospital throughout the country on a daily basis as compared to a hospital bed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19301/06]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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The national average cost per attendance at A&E departments in Ireland in 2004 (the last year for which information is available) is €197. This is a full cost including pay, non pay costs, together with the cost of overheads and services used by A&E patients within the hospital. The figure does not include depreciation or capital costs.

The average cost relates to all patients in A&E irrespective of whether they are admitted or not. As the Deputy may be aware, the majority of patients attending at A&E are not admitted to hospital.

My Department cannot provide a figure for the cost of a patient occupying a trolley in A&E as it is not possible to distinguish between the costs associated with treatment on a trolley and the costs associated with other treatments provided in A&E.

The national average cost of an In-patient Bed day in 2004 was €651.