The HSE Chief Executive Paul Reid has confirmed that 14 more beds will come on stream in the coming weeks at St Luke’s General Hospital for Carlow-Kilkenny.
The new 72 bed Ormond Wing welcomed its first patient back in May but was not originally meant to increase the overall bed numbers at the hospital with older wards being replaced.
The Health Minister Stephen Donnelly promised during a visit to the new wing that more beds were being added due to increased demand but up to now only six extra beds had been available.
On a visit to St Luke’s this morningMr Reid said that will rise to 20 shortly.
He has been telling KCLR News that the local hospital, like many others, has been seeing a higher numbers of patients: ”We had been seeing about 120 presentations at the Emergency Department. Now that’s risen to about 160 a day so we are seeing an increase of about 30% in attendance levels.”
”We are also seeing high level of presentations of older persons to our emergency department. That’s a function here in Kilkenny, but also across the country as all of our life expectancy has increased and that leads to more complex care requirements,” he said.
