Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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414. To ask the Minister for Health when the additional 2,600 hospital beds promised in the National Development Plan 2018-2027 will be delivered; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43523/18]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The Health Service Capacity Review was a key commitment in the Programme for a Partnership Government, and was commissioned in response to the growing demand for health services.   The Review, which reported earlier this year, examined capacity requirements in key elements of acute care, primary care and services for older people.  

Increasing capacity alone will not address the challenges faced, but on the basis of significant reform over the next 10-15 years, the report recommends an additional 2,600 acute beds by 2031. The National Development Plan (NDP) provides for a major increase in capacity across the health system including the full complement of additional acute beds by 2028 - 3 years ahead of schedule.

Arising from the recommendations in the Health Service Capacity Review, my Department engaged with the HSE this year to identify the location and mix of beds which could be opened to alleviate overcrowding in our hospital Emergency Departments for Winter 2018/19. This process culminated in the development by the HSE of a Capacity Plan, which identified over 600 acute beds and 290 residential care beds, to be phased in between 2018 and 2020.

As a first step towards the implementation of the Capacity Plan, €10 million in funding is being made available in 2019 to enable additional acute beds to be opened for winter 2019/2020.  My Department is currently engaging with the HSE to finalise the details of this investment.

Under the NDP three new dedicated elective-only hospitals will be introduced which will increase capacity in the hospital system and provide a better separation of scheduled and unscheduled care.