![\"\"](\"http:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/2.21126244-1.jpg\")
Senior doctors have called for an urgent increase in hospital beds to help clear the treatment backlog caused by coronavirus.<\/p>\nSenior doctors have called for an urgent increase in hospital beds to help clear the treatment backlog caused by coronavirus.<\/p>\n
The Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) said plans set out two years ago to boost capacity needed to be implemented without further delay.<\/p>\n
The 2018 National Development Plan (NDP) and Capacity Review proposed an additional 2,600 acute hospital beds and 4,500 community care beds across the health service.<\/p>\n
The IHCA said almost 800,000 people were now on some form of National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) waiting list \u2013 up almost 34,000 on the same time last year.<\/p>\n
The representative body said around 570,000 outpatients were waiting to be seen by a consultant \u2013 an increase of more than 15,000 on 2019.<\/p>\n
And it said more than 86,000 were waiting on inpatient\/day case treatments \u2013 a number than has increased by almost 20,000 since the start of the year.<\/p>\n
Dr Donal O\u2019Hanlon, president of the IHCA, said the impact of the Covid-19 response had seen all non-urgent care postponed. He said this was only beginning to restart for some health conditions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe confirmation from the NTPF that there are now almost 800,000 people waiting for care across our public acute hospitals should prompt greater urgency from Government, the Department of Health and the HSE,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese numbers will grow further over the coming months as the impact of current delays in providing care to non-Covid patients of private and public hospitals and the cancellation of surgeries during Covid-19 crisis takes effect.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe solutions to issues, such as waiting lists, which our health service continues to grapple with, have already been recommended but remain to be implemented.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese include the 2018 National Development Plan and Capacity Review recommendations to put in place an additional 2,600 acute hospital beds and 4,500 community care beds.<\/p>\n
\u201cIncreased acute hospital beds are necessary to not only increase capacity but to facilitate patient isolation and to underpin physical distancing in our public hospitals.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow more than ever, these beds need to be funded and put in place without delay. Workable solutions, such as these, if prioritized, can save lives and deliver necessary timely care to patients.\u201d<\/p>\n
Earlier this week, HSE chief executive Paul Reid said private hospitals would be used to help clear some of the NTPF lists as part of coronavirus link-up between the public and private healthcare sectors.<\/p>\n
Dr O\u2019Hanlon also said the Government could no longer \u201cignore\u201d the need to recruit more consultants to fill an rising number of vacated posts.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis stood at about 500 before the commencement of the Covid-19 crisis and will have increased further in the interim,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs we continue to tackle the current challenges brought to our already strained health service by Covid-19, we need to urgently implement the recommendations in the 2018 Capacity Review and the NDP which have unfortunately been neglected by the Government over the past two years.\u201d<\/p>\n