Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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724. To ask the Minister for Health the number of beds and wards in public and voluntary acute hospitals that were closed on 31 October 2019 or the latest date on which data for validated bed closures at hospital and ward level are available in tabular form. [45512/19]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The Open Beds Report, published by my Department monthly, provides a summary of the average numbers of open inpatient beds and day beds/places in the acute hospital system based on data provided by the HSE. It can be found on the Department's website:

According to provisional data received from the HSE Acute Business Information Unit, there were on average 11,008 inpatient beds and 2,268 day case beds/places available nationally in July 2019.

Information relating to closed beds is collated at a particular date in time. The number of beds closed can fluctuate greatly from day to day for a variety of reasons, including on-going refurbishment, maintenance work, and infection control measures.

With regard to the Deputy's specific question, I have asked the HSE to respond to the Deputy directly with the requested information.