The fees paid by the State to GPs are to be cut again following today's Budget and fees to pharmacists may also be cut.
In a statement, the Department of Health said reductions in GP fees were decided upon this week following a formal consultation process under the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act. The cut will save €48 million.
It also said it expects savings from a further examination of fees paid to community pharmacists under the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act. "Formal consultations in relation to this matter will be initiated in the coming days," it said.
The overall health budget for 2011 will be €14.1 billion, a reduction of more than €700 million on this year.
Charges for private and semi private beds in public hospitals will be increased by 21 per cent, generating an additional €75 million for the health service.
There will be no increases in the €100 charge for attending hospital emergency departments, the statutory day and inpatient charges, or the €120 monthly threshold for the Drug Payment Scheme.
The much criticised budgetary limit on the Dental Treatment Services Scheme introduced this year will be maintained next year.
Meanwhile there will be additional funding of €115 million for an extra 120,000 medical cards next year. There will also be an additional €8 million for home care packages, €8 million extra for cancer services, €9 million extra for child protection and implementation of the Ryan Report, €6 million extra for the Fair Deal nursing home support scheme, €1 million extra for suicide prevention and an extra €10 million for disability services.
Some €43 million in savings will also be made across the Department of Health in administrative and legal costs and by the Office of the Minister for Children, where the allocation to the youth work sector has been reduced by 6 per cent from €64.89 million to €60.95 million. Some €3 million has been provided to hold a referendum on the rights of the child in 2011.
The cut of more than €700 million in health spending, which had been forecast in the National Recovery Plan, is to be achieved by slicing €200 million off the cost of drugs by getting a better deal from manufacturers, from lower professional fees, savings on procurement, overtime and agency staff, and achieving €123 million in savings from the HSE's voluntary redundancy and early retirement schemes.
Minister for Health Mary Harney said she has asked the HSE to apply "lesser reductions in the budgets for disability and mental health services" and "greater reductions in the allocations for acute hospital services, with the latter allocations also reflecting differences in the relative efficiency of individual hospitals".
Ms Harney said her objective was to ensure reductions are achieved "in a way that minimise the impact on services to patients and continue to protect, as far as possible, the most vulnerable".