Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Question 139: To ask the Minister for Health if he will reopen closed hospital beds in view of the fact that there are 35,000 people waiting longer than 12 months to be seen, in view of the fact that the recommended European standard is six months; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29397/12]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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I believe we must concentrate on getting the best possible services for patients from the budgets available to us. This means we need to focus on how beds are used, on the throughput of patients, on reducing length of stay to international norms and on having as many procedures as possible carried out as day cases rather than inpatient work. The work of the Special Delivery Unit, together with implementation of the Clinical Care Programmes in the HSE, will help to improve the efficiency of our hospitals, allowing us to treat as many patients as possible within budget. I believe that pursuing efficiencies through these means will be a far more productive approach than debating the number of beds open or closed at any one time.

In the current economic climate the acute sector must reduce its costs in order to deliver the agreed level of activity within the resources available to it. The emphasis in 2012 will continue to be to make the most effective use of acute bed capacity through shorter lengths of stay, increased rates of day-of-surgery admission and more day surgery. In this way the acute hospital system can ensure that, within the level of resources available, it provides safe, effective and efficient care to the maximum number of patients.

Throughout 2012 hospitals will open and close beds on various wards in order to deliver the planned level of activity. These beds may be closed for a number of reasons, including cost containment, infection control and refurbishment. It is not possible at this time to determine what beds in which wards will be closed and what length of time they will be closed for. The decision to open and close beds is made at hospital management level and approved by the Regional Director of Operations.

In relation to the Deputys question on waiting times the Government fully accepts that waiting times for patients awaiting an elective surgical procedure are too long. One of my first priorities as Minister for Health was to set a maximum waiting time target of 12 months to be achieved by all hospitals by the end of 2011. I can confirm that 95% of hospitals achieved this target. The immediate challenge for 2012 was to maintain the 12 month maximum waiting time target for in patient and day case procedures and then to continually improve and move to a 9 month maximum waiting time target by the end of 2012.

The latest available figures from the end of April 2012 show that:

· 99% of patients were given a scheduled treatment date within 12 months

· 94% of patients were given a scheduled treatment date within 9 months

· 78% of patients were given a scheduled treatment date within 6 months.

These figures demonstrate that progress is being made in relation to reducing the maximum waiting times for patients awaiting an inpatient or daycase procedure and our health service is on target to ensure that no patient has to wait more than 9 months for surgery. I can assure the Deputy that I will continue to focus on waiting lists and that when the 9 month target has been achieved later in 2012, the SDU will focus on reducing that target even further.