Stephen Donnelly has promised there will be an extra 3,500 more hospital beds built by the year 2031. 

The Health Minister said the country has long suffered from an “historic deficit” in the number of hospital beds and that some progress in reducing it had already been made.

“We’ve already opened 1,200 [beds] in the lifetime of this Government but today we’re going much further,” he told The Hard Shoulder.

“Today, we’re announcing a plan to add another nearly 3,500 more hospital beds.

“If you think of places like Cork University Hospital or Galway or St Vincent’s, it’s the equivalent of about six hospitals.

“We’ve about 440 of those beds currently under construction and today we’re laying out a path to the biggest expansion in hospital capacity and hospital beds in many decades.”

Hospital beds. (Source: Pixabay)

For years, there have been complaints about the quality of care patients have received at University Hospital Limerick.

Earlier this month, Minister Donnelly ordered a review into hospital capacity in the Mid-West and today he hinted the region could be prioritised when it comes to building more beds.

“Some regions like the Mid-West and South-West, in terms of hospital beds per person, they’ve been lower than the rest of the country,” he said.

“What we’ve been very clear on is that not only are we increasing very significantly the number of hospital beds but we’re doing it in a way that provides more balance right around the country.”

A hospital bed. Photo: Jens Büttner/dpa-Zentralbild/ZB

Minister Donnelly said the new beds would have “state of the art facilities” and would  make a “huge difference” to patients.

“There’s a second tranche of about 1,500 beds between 2025 and 2028,” he said.

“Then, there’s a third tranche of about 1,400 [to] 1,500 beds between 2029 and 2031.”

As well as increased hospital bed capacity, Minister Donnelly promised more staff would be recruited to work in the health service.

“Your listeners will be aware we’ve had the biggest increase in the healthcare workforce in a very long time, probably ever,” he said.

“We’ve just had four years of record recruitment… We’ve hired nearly 30,000 net additional staff into the service.”

Main image: Stephen Donnelly