Consultants urge Coalition to commit €4bn to improve public hospital capacity

Consultants have called on the Government to commit to €4 billion in funding for previously announced plans to improve public hospital capacity.

The Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) said the funding in Budget 2024 will be required for previously announced plans for 1,500 rapid-build acute hospital beds, six surgical hubs and four new elective hospitals.

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Along with an additional 700 hospital beds, the IHCA called for some 930 vacant consultant posts countrywide to be filled and the appointment of 2,000 additional consultants by 2030.

“The two key deficits of the Irish public health system are hospital beds and hospital consultant posts,” said IHCA president Prof Rob Landers while launching the pre-budget submission. “This is what the next budget should focus on, through credible and realistic funding.”

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According to the consultants association, the Republic is below the EU average in terms of operating theatres, with 5.2 per 100,000 people against 10.3, and yet only 66 additional public long-stay beds opened since 2018.

The IHCA also reported that there are more than one million people — one-fifth of the country’s population — on some form of waiting list: 900,000 are on the NTPF waiting list, while a further 250,000 are waiting for essential diagnostic scans such as MRI, CT or ultrasound.

Compared to the pre-pandemic data, numbers on waiting lists have significantly worsened, as patients may have deferred their care back then and need assessment and treatment now.

In what the IHCA defines as a “vicious cycle”, these requests are often turned to emergency departments, resulting in further pressure on facilities and staff and in the cancellation of “thousands of hospital procedures every month”.

Emergency attendance in 2022 has increased by 10 per cent compared to 2019, while there was a fall of 1.3 per cent in inpatients, day cases and scopes, and an increase of 1.5 per cent in outpatient attendance.

[ Health service failing critically ill patients – IHCA ]

Speaking about the lack of staff, the IHCA said seven in 10 consultants here experienced burnout symptoms in the past 12 months, while hundreds of specialists chased better work and life conditions in the private sector or abroad.

“The private sector can alleviate pressure on the Government, but its capacity is way lower: with about 2,000 beds against 14,000, we’re talking about one-seventh,” said IHCA secretary general Martin Varley.

In its submission, the consultants association also stressed the importance of enhancing mental health services funding and quality, demanding allocation for mental health to increase from the current 5.7 per cent to at least 10 per cent of the next budget.