Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 9 May 2013
225. Deputy Mattie McGrath asked the Minister for Health the assistance available towards the cost of transport to and from hospital appointments and where the patient is not in a position to pay for a taxi; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22023/13]
View answerPatient transport is the responsibility of the HSE. However, people attending outpatient and hospital appointments are, in general, expected to make their own travel arrangements, using private or scheduled public transport. The exceptions are for dialysis, cancer (radiotherapy and chemotherapy) and post-operative transplant patients, where transport may be provided. In these cases, the patient's appointment should be directly related to the treatment.
Transport may also be provided where, in the clinician's view, the patient would be unable to make the journey without clinical assistance or where the patient must be transported on a stretcher. Following implementation of the HSE's non-ambulance patient transport policy, responsibility for the arrangement and provision of non-ambulance transport has moved from the HSE National Ambulance Service to local health offices in each region. Under the supplementary welfare allowance (SWA) scheme, the Department of Social Protection administers a scheme which may help meet essential, once-off, exceptional expenditure, which a person could not reasonably be expected to meet out of their weekly income. These payments are known as Exceptional Needs Payments (ENPs). Enquiries relating to this scheme should be addressed to the Department of Social Protection.
