Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Seanad for its support for this Bill and the Patient Safety (Notifiable Incidents and Open Disclosure) Bill. We have had an important week in the Seanad for healthcare legislation. What we have just done is make hospitals free for everybody. The only charges left will be for emergency departments and minor injury units. This change is very important for individual patients and their families. It means that people who are sick and people who may have cancer or other illnesses to deal with who may not be able to work and may be struggling financially will not have a bill of up to €800 per year. That is important.

This measure is also important because it is a landmark moment for universal healthcare in our country. The Bill we are passing, which I hope to have enacted later this month, means that inpatient services in hospitals - when an adult or a child must stay overnight - are now fully funded by the State for the first time. It is a very important measure, which is part of a radical programme of reducing costs for patients. Earlier this year, we expanded the free contraception scheme for women up to the age of 26. Today, we are abolishing hospital charges for adults. Shortly, we will start to phase in more GP cards, which we hope to do for up to 500,000 men, women and children this year. That will be an important moment. It will mean that for the first time since the foundation of the State, well over half the population will have access to GP care fully funded by the State. It will make a big difference to people to be able to access care when they need it and not just when they feel they have the money to be able to afford it.

We have reduced the maximum amount families pay for medicines to €80 per month. Later this year, we will further expand the free contraception scheme to women up to the age of 30 and, subject to legal advice, I hope it will also be available to those aged 16. We want the scheme to cover those aged between 16 and 30 years. Later this year, we will also provide State funding for the first time for IVF treatment. This is part of a fundamental shift in reducing costs for patients.

I thank the patient advocacy groups, including the Irish Cancer Society, which have sought this measure for a very long time. There are three pillars to universal healthcare. First, care should be free or affordable, which is what today is about. Second, outcomes and experience need to be good for patients, which is what the patient safety Bill was about yesterday. Third, people need to be able to access care when they need it, which is our big focus in cutting waiting lists. That is working and ensuring that people do not languish on trolleys in emergency departments, which is a big focus this year. The Bill before us is one part of this.It is important in its own right but it is important symbolically as well that now for the first time, we have legislated through both Houses for all inpatient charges for children and now for adults to be completely abolished and funded by the State.