Future State investment in digital health will prioritise initiatives that align with the core principles set out in the new digital health strategy, Digital for Care: A Digital Health Framework for Ireland 2024-2030.

The focus will be on more patient-focused solutions, data analytics, and cyber resilience, as well as clinical tools, foundational infrastructure, and core clinical and corporate systems, according to the document.

The Framework, which was launched last week by Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly, sets out an ambitious plan for the future of healthcare in Ireland, which will feature “seamless, safe, secure, and connected digital health systems”.

It identifies six key area for development: patient empowerment; workplace and the workforce; digitally enabled and connected care; data driven services; innovation; and security and digital enablers.

The document acknowledges that “sustained investment in digital health is essential to deliver the systems needed to provide safer, more sustainable, joined-up, and efficient health and social care services for patients”.

It points out that digitally mature health systems invest between four and six per cent of the overall health budget on digital health. For the Irish health services, this would equate to between €940 million and €1.41 billion per year, based on the 2024 health budget of €23.5 billion.

Capital investment will be required to implement new systems and recurring funding will be needed to cover ongoing costs for licenses, maintenance and support, the document says. The 2013 eHealth strategy identified that the annual ICT budget for healthcare in Ireland was approximately 0.85 per cent of total healthcare expenditure, compared to an EU average of between two and three per cent.

Through successive national service plans, capital and revenue funding has increased year on year, and the digital health document states that the delivery of the Framework will require this incremental approach to continue through 2030 for the majority of projects.

But it will need additional funding, both capital and revenue, and staffing, specifically for key areas of investment including national electronic health records, cyber resilience, national shared care records, patient engagement, electronic prescribing, telehealth, digital identities, standards and interoperability.

The Department of Health has given a commitment that funding will target initiatives that have the greatest impact on patient care, the health services, and health service management, while also meeting Ireland’s EU obligations under the Digital Decade and European Health Data Space regulation.

It is expected that investment will be secured through the National Development Plan and annual budgetary process.

“Funding will be a key determinant in the pace of roll-out and implementation of digital health capabilities and electronic health records,” the framework states.