The restoration of more than 3,000 beds taken out of the hospital system during the 1980s and 1990s was called for by the Irish Medical Organisation last night. The IMO was commenting on a Fine Gael survey which claims to have identified a chronic shortage of beds on Dublin's northside.
The area needs an extra 300 beds in acute hospitals, 250 "step-down" convalescent or rehabilitation beds in hospitals and 400-500 short-term nursing home beds, says the survey.
"There are 6,500 more private than public patients receiving in-patient elective surgery at the northside general hospitals, even though the number of public patients significantly exceeds those with private cover," said Mr Richard Bruton TD, the party's director of policy and press.
The Irish Medical Organisation said that in addition to restoring 3,500 beds the Government should raise the income limit for the medical card. As many as 250,000 people on low pay were deprived of a medical card because the means test limits did not keep pace with rises in wages, according to Mr Fintan Hourihan, the IMO's director of industrial relations.
He said the health system also needed more than 1,000 extra consultants. Mr Bruton said the population aged 65 or over on Dublin's northside had grown by 7,500 or 17 per cent in 10 years.