HSE looking to rent or buy facilities in bid to free up hospital beds

THE Health Service Executive (HSE) is looking to rent or purchase facilities from the private sector which will be used to house patients needlessly taking up beds in hospitals.

The move is designed to ease pressure on A&E departments, which suffer most when hospital beds are unavailable. The bed crisis creates backlogs throughout hospitals, and leads to in-patients using and waiting on trolleys.

The HSE is seeking expressions of interest from owners of nursing home facilities in Dublin which can accommodate 30 persons or more.