HSE has no plans to increase number of hospital beds

THE Health Service Executive (HSE) has no plans to increase bed numbers despite lack of capacity being responsible for the bulk of the 22,000 operations postponed last year.

Figures which emerged this week showed 21,974 operations were postponed by 34 hospitals across the State in 2005, because of a shortage of beds.

The opposition said the Government’s failure to deliver sufficient beds had led to thousands of patients suffering needlessly. Fine Gael warned that patients could die if the situation were allowed to continue. Despite the problem, the HSE said in a statement yesterday that it “intends to continue with its existing policy and practices with regard to the carrying out of surgical procedures.”