HSE closes beds in a bid to cut costs

Nearly 1,900 beds in hospitals across the country are currently “unavailable” to new patients, due to delayed discharges and an increase in demand for hospital services in other areas, a recent report has revealed.

The Health Service Executive (HSE) performance management report shows that over 500 beds have been closed already this year, in a bid to save money and counteract the HSE’s overspending – which was reported to already be €48 million over budget in July.

The report states, of the 1,900 beds that are currently out of use:

• 599 were planned closures 
• 899 beds were occupied by patients who had received acute treatment but had no alternative accommodation arrangements in place (delayed discharges)
• 130 were closed due to essential maintenance or refurbishment
• 79 were seasonal closures
• 19 were closed for infection control purposes
• The reason for the closures of the remaining beds was classed as “other”.

The number of unavailable beds is continuing to rise throughout the year. In January, there were 389 beds reported to be unavailable in January, which rose to 959 unavailable by July. The HSE claims the beds were closed to meet escalating costs brought about by treating 20,000 more patients than expected this year so far.