Sir, –You report that Ireland had more doctors, more nurses and fewer beds per 1,000 population than the OECD average (News, November 8th).
I suspect we can all agree that we need more hospital beds, even if it might help if we were to manage our existing stock more efficiently. You reported recently that there are days when the number of well patients blocking beds in our hospital emergency departments exceeds the number waiting to be admitted for urgent care.
Whatever about beds, the OECD numbers do not at first blush support the case that we are short of doctors and in particular of nurses. Some minor surgery on the OECD figures quoted by you tells us that Ireland has 1.4 doctors and 4.4 nurses per hospital bed as compared with OECD averages of 0.86 and 2.14, respectively.
Put another way, Ireland has 63 per cent more doctors and 105 per cent more nurses per hospital bed than the OECD averages.
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We may need more hospital beds but could it be that we are not making best use of our doctors and nurses? – Yours, etc,
PAT O’BRIEN,
Rathmines,
Dublin 6.
