1,000 hospital bed shortfall predicted

THE country’s largest health agency, the Eastern Regional Health Authority (ERHA) is predicting a shortage of 1,000 acute beds in the region by 2011.

The Authority’s new Strategic Plan 2003-2007, and reported in Medicine Weekly, shows that 20% of all admissions to acute beds in the region are from outside the ERHA.

Michael Lyons, the ERHA’s chief executive has already stated that protocols for referrals will have to be agreed with health boards, hospitals and GPs to balance the needs of patients against resources available.