rThe HSE has said that despite additional capacity introduced over the last two years it still needs a minimum of 2,200 additional hospital beds to reach the occupancy level recommended for a Covid-19 environment.
The Government is expected to announce an additional 1,000 acute, sub-acute and rehabilitation beds as part of its €600 million winter plan for the health service, which is due to be published on Thursday.
The plan will also see GPs having access to diagnostic services for their patients in the community to keep them out of hospitals.
There will also be new community assessment hubs which will aim to deal with patients, particularly those with chronic conditions, without them having to be admitted to hospitals.
The HSE winter plan will also include the provision of several million additional home-support hours to enable people in hospitals to return home or to stay in their homes.
It will also call for work practice flexibilities on the part of health service staff to be “maximised”.
Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly said on Tuesday that thousands of people would be taken on to operate Covid-19 testing and contact tracing services. Ultimately up to 3,000 staff may be employed in Covid-19 testing, he said.
The Minister said the challenges which the health service would face this winter would be unprecedented.
“The combination of winter and what Covid has done to our healthcare system means that this winter will probably be the most challenging time in healthcare in living memory.”
The funding involved in the new health initiative is more than 20 times greater than that allocated to the HSE’s winter plan last year.
The HSE said the new winter plan included “ambitious and comprehensive proposals for acute, critical care, sub-acute and community supports”.
