Patients will face ‘another decade of a failing health service' if the Government does not address the lack of capacity in acute hospitals, consultants have warned.

According to the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA), the chronic lack of capacity in hospitals nationwide means that acutely ill patients are facing unacceptable delays. In some cases, this is resulting in avoidable deaths.

Meanwhile, it noted that the number of people currently on hospital outpatient waiting lists is equivalent to the capacity of six Croke Parks, with some patients left waiting years for their treatment.

Speaking at the annual IHCA conference in Limerick, IHCA president, Dr Tom Ryan, insisted that the evidence that more acute hospital capacity is needed ‘is compelling'.

"Despite a growing and ageing population, over 1,400 inpatient acute hospital beds were closed over the last decade and the number of elective surgeries declined by 50% in the last four years.

"There has been a persistent policy of rationing healthcare by the State as it has systematically decreased the number of inpatient beds in public hospitals. Governments have failed to address this in successive Budgets and health capital plans, which is the root cause of waiting lists and the treatment of patients on trolleys," he commented.

He pointed out that in the last year alone, over 90,000 acutely ill patients have received some of their care on trolleys.

"The Government must immediately introduce solutions to fix this chronic lack of capacity or patients will face another decade of a failing health system where long waiting lists and trolley-based care will be considered as standard," Dr Ryan noted.

He called for an integrated trauma network and an expanded rehabilitation service, as well as more intensive care unit (ICU) beds.

"The recommendations to expand ICU beds in the Department of Health/HSE Prospectus Report of 2009 must be implemented by increasing ICU bed numbers by at least 200 over the next 5 years.

"These long overdue additional ICU beds are essential if we are to provide patient care to a contemporary standard and reduce avoidable deaths in our acute hospitals. With the existing capacity constraints, and due to a lack of operating theatres, ICU beds and frontline staff, our hospital system could not possibly react to a mass casualty event," Dr Ryan said.

The IHCA added that this week's Budget will give a clear indication of whether the Government actually wants to address this capacity problem. Budget 2018 will be announced on October 10.