Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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Question 259: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if she will invest in new beds in the health service here as a strategy to end the patients on trolleys crisis; and the number of new beds that will come on stream in 2007. [42341/06]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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The Health Service Executive (HSE) has informed my Department that the following additional in-patient beds and day treatment places are due to be brought into use in 2007:

Midland Hospital Tullamore — 27 in-patient beds and 30 day treatment places in the new hospital

Wexford General Hospital — 19 in-patient beds

St. Vincent's University Hospital, Elm Park — 12 day treatment places and 4 intensive care beds

Our Lady's Children's Hospital Crumlin — 7 oncology day treatment places

University College Hospital Galway — 3 in-patient beds in the new burns unit.

In addition, the HSE is fast-tracking the provision of admission units to alleviate pressures in a number of A & E departments. Admission lounges have been developed at St. James's Hospital (15 beds), Connolly Memorial Hospital (8 beds), St. Vincent's Hospital (20 beds), Tallaght Hospital (40 beds), Cork University Hospital (10 beds) and the Mercy Hospital in Cork (4 beds). These admissions lounges enable patients awaiting admission to an acute hospital bed to be managed safely while preserving their right to dignity and privacy. Further admission lounges are scheduled to come on-stream in 2007.

The HSE has introduced a broad-based Winter Initiative. Its purpose is to ensure that the services required to address the particular demands of the winter season are in place and operating optimally. It encompasses not just hospital services but also primary and community care services. The actions and initiatives being taken by the HSE are designed to deliver the sustained improvement in hospital services that patients and their families deserve.

A Steering Group under the chairmanship of the National Director of the National Hospitals Office is reviewing our acute hospital bed requirements up to the year 2020. The Group includes representatives of the Health Service Executive, my Department, the Department of Finance and the Economic and Social Research Institute.