Transition funding for the health service is needed to ensure that patients do not suffer during its reform, the Irish Patients' Association (IPA) has said.
Following publication of an IPA analysis of the latest hospital admission figures, the associations chairman, Mr Stephen McMahon, said "concrete responses are needed in the short-term to ensure that today's sick patients can have speedy access to our healthcare system".
His comments came as a joint memo from the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, and the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, nears completion.
Sources have indicated that the memo, which will form the basis for a reform package for the health system, will be presented to Cabinet on June 17th.
The Irish Times understands that the Prospectus and Brennan reports will be formally published once the memo has been adopted.
However, the Hanley report on medical manpower is being redrafted, and may not be ready for publication alongside the two other major reports on the future of the health service.
According to the latest IPA analysis of hospital admissions in the Eastern Regional Health Authority, both the Mater Hospital and James Connolly Memorial Hospital recorded a significant drop in year-on-year admissions during April.
Some 20 per cent less patients were admitted to James Connolly Memorial in April 2003 compared with a year earlier; for the Mater the reduction was 9 per cent.
An analysis of statistics for the Mater Hospital showed that A&E admissions increased for the fourth consecutive month, an indication of continuing pressure on its resources. Emergency admissions have risen by 6.4 per cent since the beginning of the year.
In a reference to plans to close a total of 104 beds at the hospital, the IPA analysis says: "It is likely that this trend cannot physically continue from May due to the severe bed cuts."
The category "other emergency admissions" has risen by 11.5 per cent year-on-year for April. It represents patients who have been assessed in the out-patients department and listed for admission but whose condition deteriorated while waiting for an elective bed to the point where they became an emergency case.
The number of elective admissions to the Mater has dropped dramatically year-on-year. There were 53.5 per cent less admissions to the north Dublin teaching hospital in April 2003 compared with the same month in April 2002.
IPA says: "This equates to a reduction in treatments for 826 patients, the highest ever reduction in elective work."
On a year-to-date basis, elective patient treatments at the Mater are down by 39 per cent.
According to the Eastern Regional Health Authority figures for bed closures as of May 30th, 178 acute hospital beds are now closed in Dublin. .