Last October, as part of Budget 2025, the Irish Government announced that Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) would be free to all women experiencing symptoms of menopause. The scheme was due to come into effect on the 1st of January this year.
Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly previously said it could save women between €360 and €840 a year based on current monthly payments.
However, nearly two weeks after the planned launch date, the scheme is not yet operating, and no new date has been provided for implementation, leaving thousands of women still paying for their treatment.
“It’s been delayed for many reasons,” says pharmacist Sheena Mitchell,who appears on this week’s episode of The Irish Times Women’s Podcast.
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“First of all, there was no stakeholder engagement. So that means that the first that I, as a community pharmacist, heard about this free HRT scheme was the same day that you or any of your listeners did,” she tells podcast presenter Róisín Ingle.
“There was no planning before the announcement. It was just an idealistic announcement plucked from the sky… if you’re going to make a plan, you need to talk to the people who are expected to roll it out,” she adds.
As a result of this lack of planning and engagement with stakeholders, Mitchell, who is also the host of the Wonder Care podcast, says the delay was inevitable, adding that there is “no IT infrastructure being proposed or considered for how this would roll out in community pharmacy.”
Another disappointing aspect of the national plan according to Mitchell is that GP fees and certain medications are also not covered by the scheme.
“A lot of people are really frustrated about every aspect of it,” she says, adding that many women she’s spoken with feel like “they’ve been sold a cod.”
“You know, it isn’t easy to access [HRT] in a cost-of-living crisis, and it really gave a lot of hope when we heard that it would be free. I suppose it’s just really disappointing that it’s not,” she says.
You can listen back to this episode in the player above or wherever you get your podcasts.
