The Director General said that €9 billion was an estimated requirement, along with a transitional budget to fund the changes needed in the health service model to meet current and future demands, especially in the context of an aging population and increases in chronic disease.
My Department will examine the approach used by the HSE to determine the figure, in the context of future planning, the challenge of meeting current and future demand, the commitments in the Programme for Partnership Government and the recommendations arising from the deliberations of the Committee on the Future of Healthcare. During 2017, my Department is also undertaking a Bed Capacity Review and a review of the wider capital programme as part of the mid-term review to be conducted by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.