Cathal Crowe
Question:310. Deputy Cathal Crowe asked the Minister for Health the main policy achievements of her Department since 22 January 2025; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [70526/25]
View answerWednesday, 10 December 2025
Questions (310)
Written answers
The main policy achievements of my Department since 22 January 2025 are as follows:
Resources
• The Health budget will grow by €1.5 billion in 2026, an increase of 6.2% compared to the Budget 2025 allocation. This will fund an increase of 3,300 staff added to the Health workforce in 2026.
Workforce Expansion since 2020
Nurses and midwives• : +9,774 (25.6% increase).
Health and social care professionals:• +5,074 (30.3% increase).
Doctors and dentists:• +4,111 (37.9% increase).
Total HSE workforce• : 149,221 as of August 2025 — the highest ever.
Public-Only Consultant Contract (POCC)
• The new POCC was implemented in March 2023, with 3,218 consultants signing the contract by end of October 2025, representing 67% of consultants. The total number of consultants employed by the health service has increased from 3,226 WTE in 2019 to 4,752 at the end of Sept 2025, a 47% increase.
Extended working
• Agreement with trade unions on a Framework for extending working hours was reached in June 2025 - paving the way for broader implementation of 7-day services.
Theatre utilisation
• New theatre utilisation tool has been implemented in 22 sites with significant potential for improvement in productivity. Pilot rollout led to 1,775 additional surgeries in 6 months. Rollout to be advanced nationally.
Corporate Affairs
• The public-facing elements of the Non-Statutory Inquiry into the Historical Licensing and Use of Sodium Valproate in Women of Child-Bearing Potential in the State commenced on 22 July 2025.
• An Implementation Plan for the recommendations of the Report on the Rising Cost of Health-Related Claims was published in October 2025.
• Part 2 of the Human Tissue (Transplantation, Post-Mortem, Anatomical Examination and Public Display) Act 2024 commenced on June 17, 2025, establishing a new framework for organ and tissue donation and transplantation in Ireland.
• The HSE published new Clinical Guidelines for Assessment and Management of Endometriosis in March 2025. The National Framework for Management of Endometriosis was launched on 18 October 2025. This Framework sets out, for the first time in Ireland, a defined clinical care pathway for women with endometriosis.
Mental Health
• The Mental Health Bill passed all stages in the Dáil in July 2025. The Bill is expected to reach Committee Stage in the Seanad in December and complete all stages in the Seanad by year-end.
• The Implementation Plan 2025-2027 for the mental health policy Sharing the Vision was launched in Dublin Castle in April 2025.
Older Persons
• The €10m Nursing Home Residential Premises Upgrade Scheme which launched in February 2025, enabled 323 nursing homes to upgrade facilities to meet HIQA standards. Nearly €8m has been paid, with €1.2m more due, significantly improving care quality and compliance in Ireland’s private and voluntary sector.
Palliative Care
• The HSE’s National Adult Palliative Care Implementation plan 2025-2026, launched in September 2025, advances Ireland’s palliative care policy by boosting public awareness, expanding facilities, growing the workforce, and enhancing education, all through collaboration with statutory, voluntary, and community partners for comprehensive national impact.
Urgent and Emergency Care (UEC) Operational Plan
• Continued implementation of the HSE’s Urgent and Emergency Care Operational Plan 2025-2026. In the year to date, there has been an 8% reduction in trolley waits and a 13% drop in long ED waits, despite higher patient numbers.
• New Injury Units in Carlow, Athlone, and Cashel opened, further strengthening emergency care nationwide.
Health and Social Care Professions (HSCPs) training places
• A major expansion in Health and Social Care Profession training places, with 461 new student places to be delivered in nine priority HSCP disciplines by 2028. 310 additional student places created in 2025, up to 133 additional places in 2026, and the remainder in subsequent years, in disciplines critical to disability, health, and education services.
Health and Social Care Professions (HSCPs) - Advanced Practitioners
• Budget 2025 allocated €5.5 million to expand advanced practice roles in nursing and midwifery, adding 70 additional posts and for the first time, this funding also enabled 30 candidate advanced practice posts for Health and Social Care Professionals. (July 2025).
Virtual Care
• Virtual wards are one of several clinically led, technology-enabled care options and in 2025 work progressed to provide an acute virtual ward in every region.
• Acute Virtual Wards are now operating in St Vincent’s University Hospital, University Hospital Limerick and St Luke’s Hospital Kilkenny with four more wards being rolled out in the coming weeks in Tullamore, Drogheda, Mercy Cork and Galway.
National Stroke Strategy 2022 – 2027
• €5 million in 2025 provided for 56 new posts including additional Consultants, Psychologists and Health and Social Care Professionals to support our hospital Stroke Units, and Early Supported Discharge Teams. There are now 14/21 operational ESD teams providing home rehabilitation for patients following a stroke up from 11 in 2024.
Community Pharmacy Common Conditions Service
• In November 2025, Minister Carroll MacNeill formally signed new regulations under the Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2024, which will enable pharmacists to prescribe for the first time for a limited set of minor health conditions.
Pricing & Transparency Guidance:
• Guidance was published by the PSI in October 2025, following a request from the Minister for Health in April 2025, which outlines the responsibilities of pharmacists when charging for medicines, medical devices, or fees for services.
Community Pharmacy Agreement
• Concluded the Community Pharmacy Agreement with the HSE and the Irish Pharmacy Union which ensures participation in services such as BowelScreen, the Common Conditions Service and immunisation programmes.
Free HRT
• The free HRT arrangement was launched on 1st June 2025 - provision of HRT products, prescribed for treating symptoms associated with all stages of menopause, at no cost to women who reside in Ireland.
RSV Immunisation
• For 2025/2026, the RSV infant immunisation programme was expanded to include babies 6 months old or younger at the start of the RSV season.
AHR
• The Assisted Human Reproduction Regulatory Authority (AHRRA) was formally established by the Minister in October 2025.
Pandemic Agreement
• Ireland’s was part of the successful conclusion of the WHO Pandemic Agreement, which was adopted in May 2025.
Strategies Published
• The Department of Health has published a number of key strategies and documents including a new National Rare disease Strategy, Sexual Health Strategy and the results of the most recent Health Ireland Survey data; and is developing the successor to the national drugs strategy.
Medevac
• The Department of Health, in close collaboration with the HSE, Irish Red Cross, the Palestinian authority, the Egyptian, Jordanian and Norwegian governments, WHO, the European Union’s Civil Protection Mechanism, and officials across several government departments, have successfully completed evacuations of Palestinian children to receive healthcare treatment in Ireland.
Productivity dashboard
• In June 2025, Minister Carroll McaNeill published an interactive dashboard of important health service productivity data and insights, detailing healthcare investment, workforce, activity and performance across the health service (http://email.mediahq.com/ls/click?upn=u001.qBjLssq9ArLIJjPdv6w9bbDETLrK2doQb6b8Hj4VbmWNXzJWA4C2T6l1JN2cN-2BFNuYFrF0yTVDOB9zdh1fpdTewfL6iZf9sQX4cP3-2BSGkZi4LIjtp7KbEfYP1uErW0Ex7PsybM5v-2FVTk75JL1AWdFOoHgjgo9Qldb25BGCGxyVgWddAkDYySKFg1SOk3dQM4vCJHQAgy-2F9BYaH9zumdFchYkaG74HmnWlmyWQOBJIRU-3DyPxS_2USdLI-2FBTyj6Umhs-2BF2UbJKIKLFKyJvMY6Ry-2BqYbWCQb1bgvyDA9kAXIq0wyCNuSx9wkHqvmX6PnVFnDyJmoJ3xRXgTVeH8TH33VI4ijxvfV-2BG2nYDDogLrULgxsKQgxAQ18Fy40NwxYdErP-2BdLJMs9bZP78mCRlZQo6pHhcZopDSbthMAj-2BVCvZs9S-2BQ6q2-2F-2Beb9WLRAqpfjz5f2pkXdb-2FVYdW3qKHTmVTyTOBsndEeORl7vZN8KO-2F-2F9Jl9n5zRdI68T-2BNJAmOYGFdVMr1mUocM7l0loMBGUHlRQFKIK-2FUcZEk9jmLXX89Izi9UzZbz.).
Improving Ireland’s performance in Clinical Trials
• The National Clinical Trials Oversight Group (NCTOG) Final Recommendations were approved by Government in late July 2025.
• The Final Report, published in November, is timely in terms of PfG commitments, including supporting the development of the forthcoming National Life Sciences Strategy.
Engagement with private hospitals
• The Department has engaged with private hospitals to satisfy EU statistical regulation 2022/2294. To date, 14 out of 18 hospitals have entered into a data sharing agreement with the Department of Health.
Capital & Digital Initiatives
• The South Dublin Surgical Hub (at Mt Carmel) opened on 13 February 2025. The hubs will focus on day-case procedures and are expected to have a positive impact on the inpatient and day case waiting lists. Construction is well underway at North Dublin, Galway, Cork, Waterford and Limerick – with all expected to open in 2026. Additional Surgical Hubs have been announced for Donegal and Sligo.
New 96 Bed Ward block at UHL• was officially opened in October 2025.
• In 2025, 12 Critical Care Beds are anticipated to be delivered under the NSP 2025. This will complete Phase 1 of the Strategic Plan for Critical Care, bringing total funded adult critical care capacity to 352 beds.
• The tender and procurement process for the relocation of the National Maternity Hospital to Elm Park has been concluded by the HSE.
• Progressing the HIQA compliance programme delivering long- and short-term residential beds in 90 community nursing units (CNUs) across the state with 51 completed year to date and construction is underway on 18 CNU projects in 2025.
• Roscrea Primary Care Centre became operational in Q1 2025. There are a further seven PCCs currently in construction, of which three are due to become operational during 2025.
National Patient App
The HSE Health App was launched in Feb 2025• . V3 of the app was introduced in September 2025, empowering patients to take charge of their own healthcare, including confirming hospital appointments and managing prescriptions. The HSE Health App has now surpassed 140,000 downloads with over 91,000 active users following the September 2025 Release 3; over 1.3 million appointments are visible to approximately 870,000 patients in the app.
National Shared Record
• The National Shared Care Record programme was mobilised in 2025. The first pilot stage release is on target by the year end to allow clinicians access to combined GP, hospital and some community-based health records in Waterford University Hospital and surrounding community.