Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)

Today marks the first of the Government's five health budgets. With it comes a clear commitment to invest in a health service that meets people where they are and when they need it. Our priorities for 2026 are clear: regional equity and access; reduced waiting times through productivity and increased capacity; and safe, high-quality care.

The health budget will grow this year by €1.5 billion, reaching €27.4 billion. That includes €25.8 billion in current expenditure and over €1.56 billion in capital investment. We will fund 3,300 additional staff, bringing the total HSE workforce towards 139,000. This increased investment reflects the demographic shift we are facing. The over-65 population has grown by 41% since 2015 and demand for services, especially for older people and new medicines, is rising. To meet this demand sustainably, we must be more efficient and consistent across all health regions. As a result, we are investing €984 million in acute and community services and recruiting new staff. That will help to deliver 26 million home support hours, expand five over seven working, open another 500 beds, complete surgical hubs in four regions and roll out up to 150 additional virtual beds across five hospitals.

For 2026, I am focused on making care easier and faster to access. While improvements are evident, regional variation remains too high. For example, in the mid-west, 98% of urgent breast cancer referrals are seen on time, while in the west and north west, it is just 39%. In the south west, 74% of audiology patients are seen within the 52-week target compared with only 48% in Dublin and the midlands. That level of variation is not acceptable and is avoidable. We must do better.

We are driving, I hope, lasting improvements in urgent and emergency care, although there is significant variation. I track hospital figures daily and have identified that Waterford is continuously performing well and that other hospitals, Tallaght, for example, are improving greatly. UHL, which the Deputy just referred to, is one of the best performers regarding weekend discharges. The way in which the hospital is organised has seen enormous improvements in the emergency department, but it simply does not have enough beds. I will be opening 96 beds in UHL on Monday. I hope to see the Deputy there. We have a plan for an immediate response for acute inpatient beds, but the needs of the region are more complex. We need consistency across all our sites to ensure equitable care.

On waiting times more broadly, we are expanding access to services seven days a week. Our early results show that reforms are delivering in some places, with shorter waits, faster discharges and better outcomes for patients. For example, at the Mater hospital, 81% of consultants are on the public-only consultant contract. The fact that they are being routinely rostered on Saturdays has helped us to achieve a 39% drop in the trolley numbers there in the early part of this year. We are also seeing actual use of theatres and certain outpatient clinics happening at the weekend. In Drogheda, three of the seven theatres are in use at weekends. Gynaecology and surgical work has been done there since August 2025. There are important examples from different hospitals that I would love to go through in great detail. We need that consistency across the health service. We are trying to get better bang for the money we put in.

Beaumont Hospital has reduced the number of people waiting on trolleys by 30% despite a nearly 6% increase in attendances. In community services, I am aware that families face real challenges accessing community care. Therapy waiting lists show stark regional differences. The west and north west perform best in occupational and speech therapy, while Dublin and north east lead in physiotherapy, whereas the south west and Dublin midlands need to improve in these specialisms.

To truly deliver better patient incomes, we have to invest not only in treatment but in prevention, so we are expanding screening, vaccination and action on smoking and substance misuse. RSV infant immunisation has reached 88% uptake on the maternity sites, but it is only 40% in the community programme. We will try to bring this back in once the flu vaccine is stood up. We will incorporate this into the primary care vaccination programme in 2026. CervicalCheck screening has the third highest uptake in Europe, combined with the HPV vaccination, which is at 73%, which is one of the highest in Europe, though we want it to be 90%. Combined with that, we are on a path to eliminating cervical cancer. We are expanding breast cancer screening and we are making bowel screening much more accessible, including through the new pharmacy contract.

Medicine expenditure, both in hospitals and how we support in communities through the drugs payment scheme, exceeded €3 billion last year. That is twice the budget of the Department of Defence. It is an enormous investment in our people all the time. This year, we are allocating an additional €217 million to our medicines spend, including €30 million specifically for new drug approvals.

One of my priorities is increasing capacity. That means more beds, more surgical hubs, which we are seeing, and more digital and virtual services. We have seen the 96-bed ward. We have had 201 beds open this year. The surgical hub in Mount Carmel is making a huge difference. It has reduced the day case waiting list in St. James's by over 18%, significantly reduced the plastics waiting list, which means breast reconstruction for 21% more people than had been the case before, and reduced the pain management list in James's by 81%. It is very important.

In 2026, we will open 172 new acute beds, 324 community beds, and we will open the four new surgical hubs in Galway, Limerick, Cork and Waterford. We are also expanding virtual acute wards in five locations, Galway, Mercy hospital Cork, Kilkenny, Drogheda and Tullamore.

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