Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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462. To ask the Minister for Health to set out the estimated cost of reopening the minimum of 1,000 hospital beds that are in the health service but closed, as deduced from a comparison of bed numbers from the health service capacity review published in 2018 and the capacity review from 2008. [30200/18]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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As Minister for Health, I am committed to continuing the effort to address overcrowding in our Emergency Departments, and in particular, the capacity of the system to respond during periods of peak demand. In this context, I have asked my Department to work with the HSE to identify the location and mix of beds across the hospital system, which can be opened and staffed this year and into 2019 in order to improve preparedness for Winter 2018/2019. A submission received from the HSE in this regard is currently under consideration by my Department.

There is no one capital or revenue cost for opening additional hospital beds. The cost is dependent on the nature of the additional hospital bed (Day Case, In-Patient, Intensive/Critical Care), the clinical speciality and where the additional beds will be provided (an existing hospital, an extension to an existing hospital or the development of a new hospital).

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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463. To ask the Minister for Health to set down the estimated cost of providing 500 additional hospital beds. [30201/18]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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There is no one capital cost for building additional hospital beds. The capital cost is dependent on the nature of the additional hospital bed (Day Case, In-Patient, Intensive/Critical Care), the clinical speciality and where the additional beds will be provided (for example, to an existing hospital, an extension to an existing hospital or the development of a new hospital).

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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464. To ask the Minister for Health to set down the capital costs of providing 500 additional hospital beds. [30202/18]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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There is no one capital cost for building additional hospital beds. The capital cost is dependent on the nature of the additional hospital bed (Day Case, In-Patient, Intensive/Critical Care), the clinical speciality and where the additional beds will be provided (for example, to an existing hospital, an extension to an existing hospital or the development of a new hospital).

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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465. To ask the Minister for Health to set down the estimated cost of increasing the number of hospital beds in use in the system by 500, including the capital cost; and the number of beds that could be brought on stream before incurring a capital cost. [30203/18]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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There is no one capital or revenue cost for building additional hospital beds. The cost is dependent on the nature of the additional hospital bed (Day Case , In-Patient, Intensive/Critical Care ), the clinical speciality and where the additional beds will be provided (for example, to an existing hospital, an extension to an existing hospital or the development of a new hospital).

As Minister for Health, I am committed to continuing the effort to address overcrowding in our Emergency Departments, and in particular, the capacity of the system to respond during periods of peak demand. In this context, I have asked my Department to work with the HSE to identify the location and mix of beds across the hospital system, which can be opened and staffed this year and into 2019 in order to improve preparedness for Winter 2018/2019.

A submission received from the HSE in this regard is currently under consideration by my Department. I can confirm that this proposal includes both new beds which incur capital costs and new beds within existing space which have little or no capital cost requirement.

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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466. To ask the Minister for Health to set down the fully absorbed cost of a hospital bed; the fully absorbed cost of a hospital bed including staff, ancillary services and running costs; the cost per bed, per day and per year. [30204/18]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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As this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to you directly as soon as possible.