The HSE National Service Plan 2025 has been published. The plan outlines the health and social care services we will provide nationwide within the allocated budget of €26.9 billion. This is a €1.6 billion increase on the 2024 budget.
The plan includes:
- a €297.8m investment in new service developments, including enhancing mental health and older persons services
- over €3 billion for disability services
- €1.4 billion for infrastructure and equipment across the health service
- an emphasis on meeting the needs of underserved groups
Our priorities for 2025
Speaking about our priorities for 2025, HSE Chairman Mr Ciarán Devane said:
“The Board’s overarching objectives for 2025 are to support improved efficiency and increased productivity, maintaining the ongoing focus on improving the quality of care, and continuing the shift to providing more care closer to people’s homes."
HSE CEO Bernard Gloster said:
“At a time of unprecedented demand for services, we must ensure that our funding delivers more care and services to the people of Ireland, reduces waiting times and improves health outcomes of the population. Our priority in 2025, therefore, must be a relentless focus on productivity and changed ways of working. Expanding our workforce, improving our buildings, adding new capacity and seeing more people than ever must all be pursued at the same time."
The focus of the 2025 National Service Plan are:
- healthy communities
- receiving the right care
- receiving care in the right place
- receiving care at the right time
- disability services
- strong foundations
Healthy communities
We aim to improve health and wellbeing and reduce inequalities by:
- delivering screening programmes to detect health issues early
- improving opportunities for people with disabilities
- supporting population-based planning for health and social care
- making sure women's voices, needs and experiences shape women's healthcare, improving health outcomes
- protecting and improving children’s health so they can live their healthiest lives
Receiving the right care
We will build meaningful engagement between patients, families, health professionals and organisations by:
- revising our approach to services for adults and children with disabilities
- improving support for adults who may be at risk of harm or abuse
- delivering safe, high-quality, person-centred health and social care through better models of care, clinical strategies and service user-driven initiatives.
- creating flexible and responsive supports for people who need specialist disability services
- using the best available research and evidence to guide health service care, management, strategy development and reform
Receiving care in the right place
We'll make sure people of all ages get the care they need closer to home by:
- supporting community-based care, focussing on general practice and primary care options
- expanding alternative care pathways
- continuing to implement the National Cancer Strategy 2017-2026
- continuing to set up an inclusive Trauma System for Ireland
- providing palliative care that improves the quality of life of both patients and their families
- making sure disability services support people living with their families and in their own communities
- delivering capital projects to improve experiences or patients, service users and staff
Receiving care at the right time
We will promote positive mental health and wellbeing across the population by:
- improving access to health services for vulnerable and excluded groups
- reviewing how disability support needs are assessed and improving access times
- improving urgent and emergency care across hospital admission, ED operations, patient flow and discharge
- working towards wait time goals of 12 weeks for inpatient/day cases or gastrointestinal (GI) scopes and 10 weeks for new outpatient appointments
- managing payments to healthcare professionals for community-based free or reduced-cost services
- collaborating with stakeholders to ensure effective emergency planning
- promoting health cooperation across the country to improve outcomes for patients and service users
Disability services
We will develop and provide person-centered, integrated, and responsive support by:
- significantly improving access for children and families to services
- developing and expanding services, on a programmatic basis, in line with the Action Plan for Disability Service 2024-2026
- reviewing all models and approaches to service delivery for people with a disability to maximise access and outcome
Strong foundations
We will support, retain, and grow our workforce to deliver high-quality healthcare to the public by:
- designing further tailored approaches to attract and retain professionals in disability services
- providing for a new maximum year-end Whole Time Equivalent (WTE) limit of 133,306 in 2025; a net additional 3,553 WTE in new service developments
- shaping a service-wide culture that reflects the values of the HSE – care, compassion, trust, and learning
- delivering information and communications technology services and support throughout the HSE to facilitate integrated care
- seeking to secure Government approval for the national Electronic Health Record (EHR) business case and starting procurement
- completing procurement and development of a national digital shared care record
- beginning the Community Connect System project that will support the administration and delivery of services and care within and across community healthcare settings
- implementing key solutions like the single national immunisation system, national medical laboratory solution and completing delivery of the National Imaging Solution (radiology)
- ensuring appropriate systems, principles, and processes are in place for the organisation’s governance and risk management
- providing communications, feedback, and engagement services to our patients, the public, our staff, public representatives, and our partners