PATIENTS IN PUBLIC hospitals will no longer have to pay fees for overnight stays from today, following plans to abolish the charges.

Patients previously could be charged €80 per day for in-patient care, with a cap of a maximum of 10 days over 12 consecutive months costing €800.

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has signed off on the abolition of in-patient fees, following the enactment of legislation to scrap them.

Donnelly said in a statement today: “I am delighted to announce that from today, people will no longer be charged when accessing public inpatient care in our public hospitals.

“This legislation removes the existing financial burden of public inpatient charges when accessing care in a public hospital. The removal of these charges, announced as part of Budget 2023, is an important step towards reducing the healthcare costs of patients and families.

“This measure builds on the abolition of public in-patient charges for children, which I introduced last year, and is another significant step in ensuring that people have access to affordable healthcare services.”

Medical-card holders and certain other groups were already exempt from the charges.

Funding was provided in Budget 2023 to abolish acute public in-patient charges in public hospitals.

Donnelly has previously said the cost of measure is around €30 million euro.

He said patients “facing serious treatment who are very sick are also being handed a bill of €800 euro”, adding that he is hoping to receive support from Cabinet colleagues today.

Children under 16 had fees for their hospital care abolished last year.