Since Tuesday, our airwaves have been dominated by Budget announcements, with additional spending detail being provided by individual ministers yesterday. The Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly, TD, announced at a press conference, a record €25.8 billion budget for the delivery of health services in 2025. Included in this investment he outlined plans to fund HRT for patients from January, increased access to IVF treatments, and an additional €30 million for new medicines, funded by savings in the existing drug budget.
We were concerned that there would be a decrease in the DPS threshold in this year’s budget, as in last year’s budget the Department of Health had looked for this but were not successful in securing funding. However, no decrease in the DPS threshold was announced. We have explained in great depth to officials within the Department and to the Minister the impact on the sustainability of pharmacies and on cash flow of any reduction in the DPS threshold. Following a decision from the PCC committee, we wrote to the Department of Health in September on this issue to ensure that threshold was not reduced, you can read this letter here.
The Minister stated the following in relation to our on-going pay talks with the Department, “I am allocating €25 million in this budget, with a full year allocation of €50 million, to enable my department to begin negotiations with the IPU on a wide range of issues that we have been discussing with them for some time.”
We have prepared the following statement in response to this announcement, IPU, 2 October 2024: In response to the Minister for Health’s announcement in the Dáil today, the IPU will be engaging with the Department of Health seeking clarification on the funding allocated to pharmacies while addressing our legitimate pay claim as part of the negotiation process.
We wrote to Department officials on 1 October, seeking immediate commencement of our pay talks, and we expect to be invited into the Department imminently to begin formal negotiations. As more details of the budget emerge over the coming days and weeks, we will keep you updated.
Benson Lawlor have developed a guide for pharmacists on the broader impacts of the budget that can be read here.
