The Irish Pharmacy Union (IPU) has said that Budget 2025 has failed to provide the clarity that was expected on how the chronic underfunding of Ireland’s community pharmacy sector will be addressed.
Speaking following the announcement of the Budget, IPU President, Tom Murray, warned that the introduction of proposed new healthcare services in pharmacies will not be feasible if the funding shortfall is not addressed.
Mr Murray said, “The health system relies upon pharmacists’ professional services to ensure the safe supply of medicines through the community drugs schemes. 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 IPU, has been in negotiations with Department of Health Officials for over a year as part of a statutory review process which stipulates that the pharmacy fee structure must be reviewed every third year after 2020. To date no progress has been made, but the IPU expected that this Budget would contain measures to address the inequity and unfairness of the current fee structure.”
Mr Murray emphasised that while there has been potential progress made with the Department of Health on expanding pharmacy services there is a frustrating lack of clarity for pharmacies within this Budget about how core fees for essential professional services will be addressed. Without this clarity, these promising proposals will not progress, he warned.
Concluding Mr. Murray said, “While Budget 2025 has delivered several meaningful supports to individuals and families to help with the increasing cost of living, regrettably the State continues to ignore the financial pressures pharmacies are facing. This is compounding the pressures already experienced by the sector, which if not addressed will have an impact on patient care.”
Record Breaking Budget
The Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly, Minister for Mental Health and Older People, Mary Butler and Minister for Public Health, Wellbeing and the National Drug Strategy, Colm Burke announced a record ¤25.8 billion health budget to support the continued delivery and expansion of quality, affordable healthcare services in 2025.
The funding represents an overall increase of ¤2.94 billion on the January 2024 allocation, recognising the challenges of inflation and the increased demand on services due to a growing and ageing population.
It will provide for more than 3,300 additional staff in our health and social care services, deliver 335 additional hospital beds, expand services, deliver increased productivity and continue the reductions in waiting lists and trolley numbers.
Budget 2025 includes significant increases on 2024 in areas such as:
• Acute Hospitals (up 22% to ¤9.9 billion)
• Mental Health (up 10% to a record ¤1.48 billion)
• Older Persons Services (up ¤349 million to ¤3 billion)
• Palliative Care (up 13% to ¤179 million)
• National Ambulance Service (up 13% to ¤280 million)
The 2025 health Budget includes ¤1.2 billion allocated for existing level of service, ¤1.5 billion additional funding for 2024 pressures and ¤335 million in additional new measures.
Highlights include:
• ¤49.5 million to provide 335 more hospital beds
• ¤33 million to develop cancer services including full funding for the National Cancer Strategy
• ¤21.5 million additional funding to increase Home Support hours to 24 million in 2025
• investment of ¤30 million in new medicines through increased savings in the medicines budget
• ¤35 million women’s health package including provision of free Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) and expanded access to Assisted Human Reproduction (AHR) services
• ¤6 million to expand Injury Units
Budget 2025 also includes ¤0.9 billion of funding, initially introduced for one-off measures during the COVID-19 pandemic, that has now been made permanent. This will allow permanent funding to continue to reduce waiting lists. ¤420 million be allocated to the HSE and NTPF in 2025 for waiting list initiatives, a ¤60 million increase on 2024 funding.
The 2025 Health Budget will see spending on Mental Health rise to almost ¤1.5 billion. This marks the fifth consecutive year that an increase in funding has been provided to develop and support mental health services – an increase of 43.7% over the lifetime of this government.
Drugs initiatives will be boosted by ¤4.2 million funding, with a focus on expansion of community drug and alcohol treatment centre services to respond to increased demand. ¤1 million has been allocated for the national roll-out of integrated community alcohol treatment services, ensuring full geographic coverage across all health regions.
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