Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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254. To ask the Minister for Health the number of ICU units by public hospital in tabular form; the details of ICU surge capacity available; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32031/20]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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At the start of the year, permanent adult critical care capacity in Ireland stood at 255 beds, according to the National Office of Clinical Audit. This included 204 Level 3 ICU beds and 51 Level 2 HDU beds.  As part of the initial response to the pandemic, funding was provided for an additional 40 adult critical care beds in March 2020 as well as two paediatric beds. The HSE has advised that between 280 and 285 critical care beds are currently open, with the number open any given day subject to fluctuation in respect of available staff and other operational considerations.

Where necessary, the number of critical care beds can surge beyond the baseline of 280-285 as part of an emergency response. However, it is essential to understand that the use of surge capacity for critical care is necessarily tied to a reduction of services in other areas of the hospital. Moreover, the clinical advice is clear that the greater the reliance on surge ICU capacity, the greater the clinical risk with potential impact on patient outcomes.

Our critical care units have coped well so far, largely due to the fact that the curve was flattened successfully in early stages. As a result, our outcomes for Covid patients in ICU have compared well with other jurisdictions including the UK.

Budget 2021 will allocate funding totalling €52m in 2021 to critical care. This will retain, on a permanent basis, the 42 critical care beds put in place on a temporary basis this year and add significant new capacity. Funded adult critical care beds will increase to 321 by end 2021, an increase of 66 over the baseline number of 255 funded beds in 2020. Funding for 2021 will also include money to allow for the development of a workforce plan as well as education initiatives to grow the critical care workforce.

In relation to the specific information requested by the Deputy, I have asked the HSE to respond directly to him.

Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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255. To ask the Minister for Health the number of ICU units by private hospital in tabular form; the details of ICU surge capacity that was available during the HSE private hospital contract period; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32032/20]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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In anticipation of the projected surge in Covid-19 cases and the expected impact on the health care system a major part of the response was to urgently ramp up capacity for acute hospital care facilities.  A critical element of the strategy was to put in place an arrangement with the private hospitals to use their facilities as part of the public system, to provide essential acute hospital services for the duration of the emergency. Following negotiations with the Private Hospitals Association an overarching agreement with the 18 private acute hospitals was agreed at the end of March. Under the agreement, the HSE secured 100% of the capacity of the private hospitals until the end of June.

The utilisation rate of critical care beds in private hospitals varied throughout the three month period in which the agreement was in place. The HSE has advised the Department that in the last week of April 53% of critical care beds in private hospitals were in use, while in the last week of June 48% of critical care beds were in use.

In terms of wider critical care capacity, as part of work undertaken earlier this year to determine the capacity of the private hospital system, it was estimated that there were 47 ICU beds and 54 High Dependency Unit beds within the private hospital system.