The Junior Minister for Mental Health and Older People says abolishing public hospital in-patient charges is another step towards easing the financial burden on patients.
Waterford's Mary Butler was speaking following the announcement yesterday that the charge of 80 euro per day or 800 euro per year has now ended.
It was a measure signalled in Budget 2023 last September.
Speaking to WLR News, Minister Butler feels it's positive for those attending UHW in particular, which has been performing better than most recently.
"We are very very lucky in Waterford to have a fantastic Level 4 hospital. Especially we would have seen it all over Christmas where many hospitals were to the pin of their collar and we were performing really well in the amount of people we had on trolleys."
Minister Butler says there are currently between 100 and 140 additional patients in UHW who have transferred from Wexford General, and she credited staff and management for how they have managed.
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