The National Clinical Programme for Anaesthetics was funded under the Sláintecare Integration Innovation Fund (SIIF) to deliver the ‘Beaumont Integrated Pain Management Centre’ pilot project, i.e. the iPainCentre. This project involved the placement of a multidisciplinary team experienced in chronic pain management into the community/primary care setting under the governance of Beaumont Hospital. Patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain syndromes (e.g., low back pain (LBP), fibromyalgia) or lumbosacral radicular pain (e.g., sciatica) could be directly referred to this pilot.
The iPainCentre project was initially funded under SIIF over a 2-year period from 1st January 2023 to 31st December 2024 and subsequently further extended to 31st December 2025. A final report of the pilot project, incorporating year 3 of the project, is currently being finalised and has not been submitted to the Department. The total SIIF allocation provided to the project over its three-year pilot period is €1,737,354.27.
Under the new Regional structures with the HSE, the Regional Executive Officers (REOs) have a key leadership role to increase access to care across the health service. Under this more devolved approach, each Health Region will receive a core current funding allocation for the needs of its population, with the flexibility to invest where it will have the greatest impact. With effect from 2026, the management of total staff allocations and payroll budget within the various Health Regions has devolved to the REOs.
This will enable the Regions to deliver integrated, responsive care, to achieve better health outcomes.
In light of this increased regional autonomy in service planning, the HSE would be best placed to provide information in relation to the implementation of any community-based chronic pain programmes arising from the iPainCentre pilot. For this reason, I have asked the HSE to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
