The Department of Health is to begin work on a new national medicines and health technology investment mechanism that will provide a multi-annual system of funding for new health innovations.
In his Budget 2027 speech, Tánaiste Simon Harris announced that the new National Life Sciences Strategy will incorporate “a more strategic framework for medicines and health technology that supports a more predictable, sustainable and forward-looking approach to how Ireland plans for, invests in, and delivers access to medicines and health technologies”.
Speaking at a press conference detailing the 2027 health budget, Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill said the strategic framework for medicines and health technologies will provide “a much more sustainable long-term approach to improve planning for innovative new treatments and more personalised medicine.
As a first step, the Minister said the Department of Health and Government partners will begin developing a national medicines and health technology investment mechanism next year. She described the move as a “really important signal for the future”.
Other digital health provisions in Budget 2027 include expansion of the HSE Health App, shared care records, e-prescribing, and the One Health record.
Additional funding has also been ringfenced to support the expansion of the HSE’s virtual care capacity, with each health region receiving funding for a further virtual care option which will be designed to reach people earlier and help them avoid emergency departments or hospital admission.
The decision on the specific virtual health project will fall to the individual health regions.
A new online calculator is being added to the mymedicalcard.ie site, to make it easier for individuals to check eligibility for a GP-only medical card, along with a digital application process.
The aim is to drive take-up of the GP-only card. Currently, only 40 per cent of eligible persons have availed of the card.
The interactive hospital productivity dashboard is also set to receive an update.
Patients will soon be able to see how much investment has gone to their hospital, along with the hospital’s output and productivity.
The dashboard will also provide greater transparency on how consultants are being rostered across weekends and the availability of extended-hours clinical services.
Commenting on the 2027 health budget, Minister Carroll MacNeill said: “The task in the health system is not just to spend more. It is to spend better and to continue getting more from the infrastructure and workforce investment that we have already made. We have put more into our health service than we are getting out for patients, and we need to continue to focus on improving that productivity.”
She added: “Patients don’t measure success in terms of budget allocations in any year. They measure success in terms of how quickly they get access to the treatment they need and the quality of care that they get. We know that Ireland is providing a top-class healthcare service in terms of outcomes. We know we have one of the longest life expectancies in Europe. But we also know that patients are not getting the treatment they need as quickly as they need to get it. We need a different approach to how we work with the investment that we’ve already made.”
Overall, the health budget for 2027 amounts to €29.1 billion, which includes an additional €1.6 billion in current expenditure and a further €160 million in capital development.
Minister Carroll MacNeill said the investment will provide “more capacity, modern facilities, improved digital health systems and upgraded equipment across the country”.
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