Health Minister Stephen Donnelly confirmed the HRT products will be free all women who are prescribed them by their doctor from January following €20m allocation in this week’s health Budget.
Outlining how the health services record €25.8bn funding for 2025 will be spent he said he was faced with two options regarding the HRT measure.
“One was that we would cover all costs but if we did that we would not be able to make it available to all women. The full cost of the medicine be covered.
“I listened to a lot of people about this and universally what I heard back was make it available to everyone.”
He said enabling legislation is required for the measure, but it can also be done administratively – so that if there is a general election, it will come into effect in January.
Removing existing fees to GPs and pharmacists would also need negotiation and this could take time, he added.
He said one of the winners in the Budget was cancer care and it has a €33m package in the Budget.
This will allow for development of cancer services including the expansion of the free Bowelscreen programme to people aged 58 to 70.
Another €2m will go towards the provision of post-mastectomy products for women and €10m will be allocated for new cancer drugs.
He also confirmed that publicly-funded IVF scheme would be expanded to include sperm and egg donation, and couples who already have one child and have secondary infertility.
However, details of the expanded scheme, and when it comes into effect, have yet to be set out. A regulatory authority overseeing fertility treatments will be established next year.
Commenting on hospital waiting times, he said they remain too long.
Around €420m will be allocated to reducing waiting times this year including €230m for the National Treatment Purchase Fund.
“The waiting time for outpatients has reduced and is now an average of 7.1 months, halving in three years.”
Next year will also see the opening of surgical hubs where patients can receive day treatments in Swords in Dublin and in Galway.
Responding to union criticism of staff recruitment, he said 28,000 more workers are now employed in the health service compare to four years ago.
Health unions warned that gaps in staff are impacting services, but the minister said Ireland has the second highest level of nurses in the EU.
He accepted that some community teams are short but said next ear the budget is for more than 3,300 additional staff and between now and the end of 2025 an additional 6,000 will have been hired.
Emergency departments in the Mater, Mullingar, Naas , Portlaoise and Cork University Hospital will be expanded.
Injury units will be developed in Athlone, Ballina, Carlow, Kerry, Tallaght and Waterford.
The plan is to deliver 335 additional hospital beds with around a third of these going to University Hospital Limerick with others going to Kilkenny, Cork, Kerry and Galway.
Minister for Mental Health and Older People, Mary Butler said that mental health funding will rise to almost €1.5bn with €2.1m going to open the remaining beds in the new central mental hospital and €2.9m to expand CAMHS.
She said there will be €21.5m to provide 24 million hours of home care and another €62m for the Fair Deal scheme
“Since taking office, dementia supports have been a priority for me, and this focus continues in Budget 2025, with ringfencing of 20pc of new home support hours for dementia, more dementia advisers, and expanded diagnostic services.”
Minister for Public Health and Drug Colm Burke said a vaping awareness campaign will be delivered, targeted at 12 to 17-year-olds .
Meanwhile following a €1.5bn top up allocation in early summer the HSE may be on course to ask some supplementary funding at the end of the year.
Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said there is a chance the €1.5bn additional funding for the HSE could see “an amount” extra needed.
The figure will not be large but it may be generated by the pressure on the service this winter.
Meanwhile the Irish Health Foundation said it welcomed community support funding, announced as a lifeline for heart patients and stroke survivors across Ireland.
“The €600,000 provided in the Budget for the charity’s Heart and Stroke Connect services is the first national funding ever given for support programmes to improve the quality of life of people affected by heart disease and stroke and will have a profound impact on the lives of thousands of families,” said Director of Advocacy Chris Macey.
