Budget 2025: Increase in bed numbers among headlines in health

An increase to €25.76bn in the health allocation from Budget 2025 is set to fund a further 495 beds in the country’s hospitals as well as expanding access to women’s health measures including in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and free hormone replacement therapy.

Increasing the number of beds in hospitals did feature in the pre-budget submission from the Irish Medical Organisation, as was the need to replenish the number of GPs and medical professionals in the sector, given the twin pressures of increasing population on the one hand and aggressive recruiting by other countries of highly-trained medical graduates.

Training

While there was little in the way of specific detail in the budget speeches from either Finance Minister Jack Chambers or Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohue regarding the expansion of medical training, some of this detail was provided in a statement issued later by Higher Education Minister Patrick O’Donovan, who said that there would be a €600m fund aimed at providing additional facilities for the training of graduates in medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, nursing, and veterinary.

Irish Pharmacy Union president Tom Murray said that the budget had failed to provide the clarity that was expected on what he described as the chronic underfunding of Ireland’s community pharmacy sector.

Shortfall

Mr Murray was speaking in the context of the introduction of proposed new healthcare services in pharmacies and warned this would not be feasible if the funding shortfall is not addressed.

“The health system relies upon pharmacists’ professional services to ensure the safe supply of medicines through the community drugs schemes,” he said.

“This guarantees that medical card holders can access their medicines quickly and efficiently.

“The fees pharmacies receive for this service have been frozen for 16 years, since 2009, and are no longer viable.”

The measures aimed at making IVF and HRT more available have been welcomed by the National Women’s Council (NWC), which described the commitment relating to hormone replacement therapy as a “game changer”.

The announcement paves the way for HRT to be made freely available for women experiencing menopause from January 2025.

NWC director Orla O’Connor said that there had been a significant shift in Irish society in relation to the menopause, with women’s stories and experiences being widely shared.

“The announcement on HRT reflects that their voices have been heard and, coupled with the free contraception scheme, it is hugely positive for women’s reproductive health,” she said.