David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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1165. To ask the Minister for Health the number of additional beds made available in acute hospitals to help combat Covid-19 by hospital; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15444/20]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The Department of Health is working with the HSE to increase acute capacity in hospitals throughout the country. In the context of the current COVID-19 Pandemic response, the HSE advised on 22 June 2020 that an additional 324 acute beds have opened since March, bringing the current total of acute beds in the system to 11,597 excluding critical care capacity. It should be noted that this is the total current bed capacity. However, beds are unavailable when they are temporarily closed for reasons such as infection control, maintenance/refurbishment, or staffing shortages.

The HSE’s Critical Care Programme Census from September 2019 reported that there were 255 adult critical care beds in public hospitals. At an early stage of the Covid-19 pandemic, additional funding was provided to the HSE to increase the number of critical care beds. 42 critical care beds have been funded since March in addition to the baseline critical care capacity already identified in hospitals.

In line with the HSE’s Critical Care Major Surge Preparedness Planning Framework, surge plans for further capacity for each Hospital Group have been developed in order to create additional capacity if required.

In relation to the Deputy's request for a breakdown by site, as this is a service matter, I have asked the HSE to respond to the Deputy directly.