Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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224. To ask the Minister for Health the plans the HSE has submitted to him to increase ICU capacity; and the number of ICU beds he expects to be available in acute care by the end of 202. [23122/20]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The Health Service Capacity Review 2018 recommended that Ireland’s critical care capacity be increased to 430 beds by 2031. In early 2020, baseline permanent adult critical care capacity in Ireland was reported by the National Office of Clinical Audit (NOCA) to be 255 beds. Funding for a further 40 adult critical care beds, and two paediatric critical care beds, was provided as part of the response to Covid-19 in March 2020. Surge ICU capacity supports the provision of critical care as required. Daily situational reports published by the HSE during recent months have reported potential critical care beds including surge as in the region of 430, with the number open on any given day subject to fluctuation in respect of available staff.

My Department and the HSE have been engaging in regard to critical care capacity requirements in the public hospital system and consideration is ongoing.