Decline of 97 in beds for overnight stays in Western Trust hospitals in five years

Back in 2014/15, a total of 985 beds were available on average across trust hospitals but by 2018/19 this had decreased to 888. That’s a drop of 97.

The figures have been released by the Minister of Health Robin Swann and refer to the number of beds on each ward opened overnight that were actually available for patients, measured at midnight.

Availability at Altnagelvin Hospital decreased by 18 from 481 to 463 over the five years in question.

At Gransha the average number of daily overnight beds available declined by 32 from 62 to 30. At Lakeview the relative decrease was from 20 to 10.

There was only a slight drop in average availability in Wards 1 to 4 of the Waterside Hospital from 66 to 65.

In the southern sector of the Trust the average number of daily available beds fell from 44 to 30 at the Omagh/Tyrone County hospital and from 94 to 64 at Tyrone and Fermanagh, according to the data released by Mr. Swann.

Only at the South West Acute Hospital was there an increase, of eight, from 218 to 226.

Releasing the information in response to an Assembly Question Mr. Swann said that the data did not include beds that were reserved solely for day case admissions.

Neither were regular day admissions included in the figures.