IHCA calls for the urgent commissioning of thousands of additional acute hospital beds to address the trolley crisis

2 January, 2018: Dr Tom Ryan, President of the Irish Hospital Consultants Association, said that today's record number of patients on trolleys requiring hospital care was entirely predictable and unacceptable. He said the crisis is due to the fact that acute hospital in-patient bed numbers were cut by 1,400 in the past decade when they should, at a minimum, have been increased in tandem with the country's growing and ageing population trends. 

The IHCA President said that the shortage of beds, equipment and staff means that hospitals do not have the capacity to provide the care that the population needs and deserves. Dr Ryan said that the lack of capital investment in our acute hospitals has resulted in a year-round crisis for hospitals which are struggling without the means to provide a proper standard of care to their patients.

Dr Ryan said that the Association has been highlighting for years the critical need to expand our acute hospital capacity to ensure that patients are provided with safe, high quality care without delays.

The IHCA President said he welcomed Minister Harris's statement, in the past week, on the need for thousands more acute hospital beds. However, Dr Ryan added that it is essential that the commissioning of the additional beds is advanced urgently as our hospitals are at breaking point.     

ENDS

For further information contact:

James Dunny, FleishmanHillard + 353 86 388 3903

Fiona Murphy, FleishmanHillard +353 87 819 4464