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Budget 2023: Over €23 Billion Investment Announced in Health and Social Care Services

Investment of €23.4 billion in Ireland’s Health and Social Care Services has been announced as part of Budget 2023.

The new investment is aimed to facilitate better access to affordable, high-quality healthcare for people at a time when the cost-of-living crisis is impacting everyone.

Key healthcare initiatives unveiled in Budget 2023 include:

  • Recruitment of 6,000 additional staff in a variety of roles across the healthcare sector
  • 650 new acute and community beds added to health service facilities by the end of 2023
  • Investment of €443 million aimed at tackling hospital waiting lists
  • Section 39 organisations including Nursing Homes and hospices will be eligible to receive once off additional support this winter
  • Free GP care to extend to more than 400,000 people
  • All inpatient hospital charges abolished from 1 April 2023
  • Free contraception extended from women aged 17 to 25 to all those aged 16 to 30 years
  • Financial support for access to IVF treatment

Commenting on the new measures, Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly said, "The significant investment in Budget 2023, the highest allocation of funding to the health service in the history of the state, will facilitate better access to affordable, high-quality healthcare for people at a time when the cost-of-living crisis is impacting on everyone”.

New Nurse-led Wax Clinic Opens at Letterkenny University Hospital

Letterkenny University Hospital has opened the first nurse-led Wax Clinic in the Outpatients Department. 

Staff nurse, Bridgene Bonner introduced the new clinic after completing specialised training in London and at the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital Dublin. The clinic runs under supervision from Prof Nash Patil, Consultant ENT Surgeon from Sligo University Hospital as part of the satellite ENT Outpatient Service for Donegal.

Describing her work in the ENT Clinics, Bridgene said, “During the Wax Clinic I perform micro-suction of the ears which is a non-invasive method of treating impacted wax and otitis externa, a condition that causes inflammation of the external ear canal.

 “The work I do in the Wax Clinic would previously have been carried out by the doctors in the ENT Clinic which means that I am able to free up their time for more complex clinical care. I have been able to work with many long-term patients who come in for micro-suction and a lovely part of the job is seeing how they have been getting on especially the improvements from their first visit”.

The new nurse-led clinic will take place once a month and treat 8 to 10 patients in each clinic.

Nurses in England to Get Specialist Goggles to Cut Down Admin Time

New virtual reality-style goggles are to be trialled by nurses in England on home visits, in an effort to maximise the amount of time spent with patients, Sky News has reported.

Smart glasses will, in real time, transcribe appointments straight to electronic records, so the time spent doing administration tasks is reduced.

It is estimated that community nurses spend more than half their day manually inputting data and filling out forms.

The goggles include thermal imaging to help assess how wounds and injuries have healed and will allow staff to share live footage directly with hospital colleagues to get a second opinion.

You can read more on this story here.

Tributes Paid to Philanthropist who Gave Millions to Nurses

Tributes have been paid to a wealthy American who, with his wife, sold off their art collection to give millions of dollars to nurses.

Donald Jonas, whose success as a retailer enabled him and his wife to amass an impressive collection of Abstract Expressionist paintings died on July 23 at his home in Manhattan. He was 92.

Mr Jonas and his wife, Barbara, began collecting art in the 1970s, primarily for their own enjoyment before selling $44M worth of paintings to fund donations to nurses and nursing causes.

“Everyone needs nursing, and always will,” Mr. Jonas said in 2017 when he and his wife were awarded honorary doctorates by Frontier Nursing University in Kentucky. “The nurses are the backbone of our health system.”

You can read more on this story in the New York Times article here.

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In this issue
NMBI report reveals 75,871 nurses and midwives currently practising in Ireland
Five New Members to Join NMBI Board
NMBI Publishes Site Inspection Reports for the First Time
Registration Department Sets New Record
NMBI Participates in The Irish Times Higher Options Expo
Special Feature: How Supersleuth Emma Tracked Down Ireland’s First Registered Midwives
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