Hospital charges scrapped by the Health Minister

The Minister for health has signed an order that will abolish public in-patient charges at all public hospitals from last Monday (17th April).

Previously there had been a charge of €80 per day, up to a maximum of

€800 in a year, for people accessing care as a public patient in all public hospitals.

After the enactment of the Health (Amendment) Act 2023, which was signed into law on 4 April, Minister for health Stephen Donnelly has now signed the commencement order for the removal of charges.

Speaking after signing the order the Minister called it an important step for families.

“I am delighted to an- nounce that from today, people will no longer be charged when accessing public inpatient care in our public hospitals.

“This legislation removes the existing financial burden of public inpatient charges when accessing care in a public hospital. The removal of these charges, announced as part of Budget 2023, is an important step towards reducing the healthcare costs of patients and families.

“This measure builds on the abolition of public in-patient charges for children, which I introduced last year, and is another significant step in ensuring that people have access to affordable healthcare services.”

The new measure which was brought in during the last budget is thought to be costing the state in the region of €30m. Last year fees for children under 16 were also abolished.