Health Minister: “new hospital will have enough beds”

Monday 27 February 2017

Health Minister Senator Andrew Green says rumours that there won’t be enough beds in the new hospital are just "fake news."

Under pressure from the Health and Social Services Scrutiny Panel to explain if an estimated 50 extra beds will be enough to cope with an ageing population over the hospital’s 40 to 50 year life span, the Minister said he wanted to scotch gossip that the hospital was not forward thinking.

Plans are yet to be finalised, but it’s estimated there will be about 283 beds in the new multi-million pound building. Multi-bed wards will become a thing of the past, and instead there’ll be single occupancy rooms. Senator Green explained whilst this provided greater privacy, it will also help prevent the transmission of germs. This means patients are in effect isolated. There have been circumstances in the current hospital where whole wards have had to be closed because of the fear of the spread of infection. That’s likely to be less of a problem, meaning that there won’t have to be so many ‘extra’ beds.

Whilst Senator Green admits there is a growing elderly population and that this might put pressure on the hospital, he also noted turn around times are now much faster. In the past, he said you may have found yourself in hospital for a week recovering from a hernia operation, now it’s quite common to come in during the morning, be operated on, and then go home in the evening.

Likewise, the number of women having babies has remained steady – about 1,000 a year – so there’s no need to provide extra beds. Mothers are also going home earlier.

When the new hospital is built, the current granite wing is likely to be turned into a nursing college and administration block. The 1960s block will be demolished – according to Senator Green, "concrete cancer" means it’s only got about 10 years’ life left. But the future of the 1980s block is unclear. If there really weren’t enough beds, it's possible that this part of the old building could be adapted in the future.