Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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429. To ask the Minister for Health if previously closed acute beds in Letterkenny University Hospital will be reopened in 2019; if so, the number of beds which will be reopened; when this will happen; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43641/18]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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€10 million in funding is being made available in 2019 to enable additional acute beds to be opened for Winter 2019/2020. This is the first step in the process of implementing the Capacity Plan which identifies over 600 acute beds to be phased in by the end of 2020, including a 20-bed short stay ward in Letterkenny University Hospital.

My Department is currently in discussions with the HSE, in the context of the National Service Plan 2019, to agree a capacity programme for 2019 that maximises this investment and supports the management of winter pressures into the future.

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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430. To ask the Minister for Health the number of new acute beds opened in 2018; the locations of those beds; the breakdown of those beds by type, for example, ICU, HDU, ward and rehab; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43643/18]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Increasing bed capacity is a Government priority.

Over the past 12 months an additional 240 beds have been opened of which:

- 148 opened by end quarter 4 2017; as detailed in Table 1

- 92 opened by end quarter 3 2018, as detailed in Table 2

A further 79 additional beds are planned for quarter 4 2018 and early 2019, as detailed in Table 3.

Table 3 does not take account of the impact of the €10 million in funding in Budget 2019 to increase acute bed capacity in line with the recommendations of the Health Service Capacity Review. My Department is currently in discussions with the HSE, in the context of the National Service Plan 2019, to identify the sites for investment and the associated number of beds, as part of an agreed capacity programme for 2019.

Table 1 - Q4 2017 Acute Beds 

Table 2: Q1 - Q3 2018 Acute Beds

Table 3:  Planned beds - Q4 2018 and early 2019 

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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431. To ask the Minister for Health the number of new acute beds he plans to open in 2019; the locations of those beds; the breakdown of those beds by type, for example, ICU, HDU, ward and rehab; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43644/18]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Improving access to health care services is a key priority in 2019. In the first quarter of 2019, in the region of 80 additional beds will be brought on stream, including an additional 30-bed ward in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital Drogheda, a 40-bed modular ward block in South Tipperary General Hospital and 4 high dependency beds in the Mater and Cork University Hospital respectively. In addition, the new ED planned for Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital Drogheda is due to open early in 2019.

Furthermore, €10 million in funding is being made available in 2019 to enable additional acute beds to be opened for winter 2019/2020. This is the first step in the implementation of the Capacity Plan, which has identified over 600 acute beds to be phased in between 2018 and 2020. My Department is currently engaging with the HSE to finalise the details of this investment.