Clune: Fill the empty beds

HEALTH Minister Mary Harney has been urged to ensure hospital beds are more frequently occupied, after it emerged up to 20,000 bed days could be lost in Cork hospitals this year.

Fine Gael TD Deirdre Clune said the latest information from the Health Service Executive showed CUH, Mercy University Hospital, South Infirmary/Victoria Hospital, Bantry General Hospital and Mallow General Hospital, are, this year, losing an average of 476 bed days a week.

According to the TD, that’s up from 391.5 bed days a week lost in 2007.