The charge of €80 per day for public hospital inpatients will no longer apply from April, the Department of Health has confirmed.

The abolition of the charge is part of the Health (Amendment) Bill 2023, which was first published on March 10. It is scheduled to commence in the Oireachtas on March 22 and “subject to timely passage through the Houses of the Oireachtas, it is envisaged that the measure will be introduced next month”, the department said.

It will remove the acute public inpatient charge of €80 per day, up to a maximum of €800 in a year (including day-case charges), for people accessing care as a public patient in all public hospitals.

“This bill, when enacted, will mean that people will no longer be charged when accessing public inpatient care in our public hospitals. The removal of these charges is an important step towards reducing the healthcare costs of patients and families. I intend to progress this legislation through the Houses of the Oireachtas as a priority in the coming weeks,” commented the Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly.

Public inpatient charges for children under the age of 16 were abolished in September 2022 and according to the department, “this is the next step in the removal of charges for all”.