Row over bed numbers ‘paralysing service’

A CONFLICT between the Health Minister Mary Harney and the head of the Health Service Executive (HSE) on the question of providing more hospital beds is paralysing the country’s hospitals, the Irish Hospital Consultants’ Association (IHCA) has claimed.

IHCA president Dr Mary McCaffrey said the shortage of hospital beds was at the core of the crisis in the health service.

“It is outrageous that this cash-rich country should have 25% fewer hospital beds now than it had 20 years ago at a time when the population is now 25% larger,” Dr McCaffrey told the IHCA’s annual conference in Mullingar.