Improvements to disability services, an 18 per cent increase in the number of cervical screening tests and an additional 2,200 consultations for children and young people with the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service are among the commitments contained in the Health Service Executive’s service plan for 2026.
The plan sets out how the executive intends to spend the €29 billion allocated to it for next year, a figure that includes some €3.8 billion for disability services from the Department of Children, Disability and Equality.
The latter figure is almost 20 per cent up the amount allocated for 2025 a year ago and 10 per cent ahead of what is expected will actually have been spent in the area when the financial year ends next week.
Overall, the total €29 billion budget is up 7.9 per cent on the corresponding figure published a year ago and 5.8 per cent on what is the spend is expected to be when the year-end totals are finalised.
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The HSE says 428 new community beds and 177 acute beds will be delivered next year as well as five new surgical hubs, while administrative services will be improved so as to expand the number of maternity hospitals using electronic records and more co-ordinated access to children’s healthcare services.
“The Government’s priority for 2026 is to improve healthcare access and quality across all health regions,” said Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill.
“This will be achieved through targeted investment that supports the shift to community-based care, reduces hospital overcrowding and delivers services closer to home. Investment will be directed where it delivers the greatest impact for patients and return for taxpayers on the State’s sustained healthcare funding over the past decade.”
The plan sets out revised ceilings on staff numbers and pay with the maximum number of whole-time equivalents across the HSE set at 136,606 compared with the 133,306 projected for the end of this year.
Despite this, it is envisaged there will be an additional 300 posts in mental health services and contributed numbers growth in key areas.
The growing number of consultants signed up to the public-only contract will facilitate continued improvements to evening and weekend hospital services, it is suggested, while savings of €181 million have been targeted including €30 million to be achieved by the conversion of some 2,000 full-time agency roles into directly employed ones.
Among the other commitments contained in the document is one to free up some 500,000 hours of administration time, much of it through the increased use of artificial intelligence tools. Services will be improved for both young and older people, it is said, with a continued emphasis on reducing waiting times for procedures.
