HSE Spends €33 Million on Overseas Psychiatric Treatment for Small Number of Patients

Dublin: The HSE has spent approximately €33 million on overseas psychiatric treatment over the past three years, according to documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

The expenditure covered fewer than 10 patients per year, with the average cost per patient reaching as high as €1.26 million. The figures also indicate a sharp rise in costs in recent years, increasing from €4.4 million in 2022 to €12.3 million in 2023. Spending stood at €10.6 million in 2024 and €9.98 million in the most recent year.

Over an 11-year period, a total of €45 million has been paid to specialist mentalhealth providers abroad. Despite the growing financial outlay, the number of patients referred overseas annually has consistently remained in single digits.

Last year, the amount was spent treating eight individuals, equating to approximately €1.25 million per patient. In 2024, nine patients were treated at an average cost of €1.18 million each, while the highest per-patient cost was recorded in 2023 at €1.36 million.

All treatments were carried out at specialist centres in the United Kingdom. However, the HSE has declined to provide a detailed breakdown by hospital or location, citing concerns over patient confidentiality. In some cases, it also withheld patient numbers for specific years to avoid the risk of identifying individuals.

The HSE stated that patients are referred abroad when highly specialised mentalhealth treatments are required but not available within Ireland. Between 2015 and 2024, there were 21 referrals from mentalhealth services and a further 16 referrals from acute hospitals for such overseas care.

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