Martin to free-up 600 hospital beds

HEALTH Minister Micheál Martin has said he will free-up 600 hospital beds to help alleviate the crisis in A&E wards.

As the furore over bed shortages continued yesterday, Mr Martin said health boards had contingency funds to source these extra beds in nursing homes, insisting there were no cutbacks in that service.

The Eastern Regional Health Authority (EHRA) was given an extra 40 million last year to pay for nursing home subvention and an extra €1 million emergency fund in December, Mr Martin said.