Delivering universal healthcare
The Government’s latest Sláintecare roadmap outlines a phased but far-reaching programme of reform, centred on timely access to care, enhanced patient experience, and the expansion of health system capacity through 2025-2027.
Published under Path to Universal Healthcare: Sláintecare and Programme for Government 2025+, the document outlines the Government’s longstanding ambition of delivering a health service that is accessible, affordable, high-quality, and free at the point of need.
The programme sets out 23 projects to be realised over the term of government, enabled by new health regions, digital transformation, and increased investment in workforce and infrastructure.
Improving access
Reducing waiting times and expanding treatment capacity forms the core objective of the first phase of implementation. The 2025 Waiting List Action Plan aims to ensure that half of all patients are seen to within Sláintecare target times (12 weeks for inpatient and day-case procedures and 10 weeks for outpatient appointments) by year-end. Weighted average waits are targeted to fall to 5.5 months, supported by €420 million allocated for HSE and NTPF delivery.
Urgent and emergency care reform moves to an all-year operational footing. Updated measurement metrics were introduced in Q2 2025, aiming to build on an 11 per cent reduction in trolley waits achieved in 2024 despite growing demand. New surge protocols, senior clinical presence, extended rostering, and strengthened governance in EDs form the backbone of the Government’s intended actions.
Care
A continued shift toward community-based treatment is anticipated. The Enhanced Community Care programme aims to deliver over 1.6 million contacts through community healthcare networks, alongside 141,000 interactions for older persons and 334,000 for chronic disease management teams in 2025, a 46 per cent rise on the previous year.
Telehealth programmes, including Attend Anywhere, are being expanded nationally, and a new Virtual Care Governance Group aims to shape regional models for remote monitoring and virtual wards. Access to community diagnostics remains central, with capacity for 240,000 radiology scans and 161,000 chronic disease tests available by GP referral.
Consultant contract reform
The Public Only Consultant Contract aims to advance the long-term goal of using public hospitals solely for public patients. By end-2024, 2,770 consultants had transitioned, with extended evening and weekend availability providing new capacity for public treatment. Ongoing monitoring through the DIME system will guide uptake and service impact from 2025 onwards.
Quality improvement
Enhanced patient experience is positioned as a pillar equal to access. A National Patient and Service User Strategy is to be co-designed, accompanied by regional participation councils and the continued expansion of the National Care Experience Programme. Health literacy measures, including a national toolkit, aim to support user navigation and decision-making.
Public health continues to widen in scope under Healthy Ireland. Renewed sexual health, physical activity, obesity, and tobacco replacement strategies are scheduled across the mandate, alongside the development of a national public health strategy and strengthened preparedness structures through the Health Threats Management Committee.
Building capacity
Population ageing and demand growth frame long-range planning priorities. Sláintecare outlines increased workforce recruitment, surgical hubs, elective treatment centres, pharmaceutical service expansion, and future capacity modelling to 2027 and beyond. Infrastructure requirements are to be aligned to demographic projections, with workforce supply identified as a determining variable.
Analysis
Life expectancy in Ireland now stands at 82.6 years, while 79.5 per cent of the population report good or very good health, the highest in the EU. At the same time, people aged over 65 are projected to rise to over one million by 2034 and 1.8 million by 2054, doubling today’s cohort.
While the programme suffered from perceived losses of momentum during the previous government’s term amid several high-profile resignations from the relevant authorities, Sláintecare 2025+ aims to chart a path to accommodate this demographic transition, combining short-term access improvements with long-term structural transformation.
Over the span of this government’s term, waiting list reform, community treatment expansion, and digital enablement are expected to be the top challenges, while investments in infrastructure and workforce capacity aim to lay the foundation for a universal system in the long term.
In her ministerial foreword, Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill TD says: “We are developing healthcare that is accessible, affordable, high-quality, and focused on achieving the highest possible standards of care for the people of Ireland when they need it, where they need it, and at minimal cost or free at the point of service.”
The Minister adds that the announced measures “will forge the way towards delivery of world class universal health and social care services for the people of Ireland, where the patient is at the centre of all of our collective efforts”.
During a Dáil debate in February 2025, Sinn Féin health spokesperson David Cullinane TD argued that there is a need for strengthening primary care, home-care supports, and community services to reduce hospital burden. He added: “I want to see progress being made. I want to see waiting times reducing. I do not want to see hospital appointment cancellations.”
