The vast bulk of the non Health Service Executive-run public hospitals believe they have insufficient funding and that this is affecting services for patients.
The representative body for the sector, the Irish Voluntary Healthcare Association (IVHA), said its members were also worried about financial sustainability.
It said a survey of voluntary hospitals and hospices revealed that funding remained the dominant concern.
It said 89 per cent of respondents said their organisations were “experiencing funding shortfalls or financial pressures impacting service delivery”.
RM Block
The IVHA said more than four out of five said “challenges with the HSE are impacting their ability to provide quality care”.
Voluntary hospitals are publicly-funded institutions and their staff are considered to be public-service personnel. However, they are run by their own boards rather than the HSE.
The IVHA said its members included Beaumont Hospital, the Mater, St Vincent’s Healthcare Group, Tallaght University Hospital, the Mercy University and South Infirmary University hospitals in Cork, St John’s in Limerick as well as the three maternity hospitals in Dublin.
The association said the survey was based on responses received from chief executives and the chairs of boards of voluntary hospitals and hospices. It said the findings showed funding pressures, digital underinvestment and uncertainty around HSE reforms were “fuelling growing concern about the direction of the healthcare system”.
The IVHA said more than half of respondents (56 per cent) said they did not receive their 2026 budget allocation in a timely manner, while almost two-thirds (63 per cent) reported carrying deficits accumulated over previous years. It said 71 per cent reported that digital transformation was significantly under-resourced, including in areas such as patient e-records and cybersecurity.
The IVHA also said the introduction of the HSE’s new regional structure had not yet delivered clear improvements. A quarter of respondents said it had adversely affected their relationship with the health authority.
“The survey found that relationships with local HSE contacts are often constructive, with 56 per cent describing their relationship with the HSE as mostly positive. However, respondents also identified persistent challenges, including insufficient budgets, failure to fund capital developments, poor engagement, increased administrative burden and concerns around governance,” the association said.
IVHA chairman Liam Dowdall said: “The message from these healthcare leaders is very clear. Voluntary hospitals and hospices are committed to delivering high-quality care, but they cannot plan services effectively without clear budget planning and funding commitments from the HSE.”
The survey findings do not set out the financial position of individual hospitals.
However, in April three of the country’s main public voluntary hospitals told the Dáil Public Accounts Committee that they were facing a funding shortfall of more than €120 million between them this year.
The Mater, St Vincent’s University Hospital in south Dublin and Tallaght Hospital all told the committee that the initial financial allocations provided by the HSE this year would not cover the cost of delivering services and paying staff and suppliers. They said that at the time they were in talks with the HSE about a final budget.
Voluntary hospitals across the country are also concerned about the level of historic deficits on their books which in 2024 was estimated to stand, collectively, at more than €340 million.
