Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 27 June 2023
686. Deputy Michael Lowry asked the Minister for Health the reason a person (details supplied) has not been called for a procedure in University Hospital Waterford; if they can obtain the procedure through the treatment purchase scheme, the cross-Border directive or the treatment abroad scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30875/23]
View answerUnder the Health Act 2004, the Health Service Executive (HSE) is required to manage and deliver, or arrange to be delivered on its behalf, health and personal social services. Section 6 of the HSE Governance Act 2013 bars the Minister for Health from directing the HSE to provide a treatment or a personal service to any individual or to confer eligibility on any individual.
In relation to the query raised by the Deputy as to why a particular individual has not been called for a procedure, as this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
I wish to clarify that the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF), works with public hospitals, as opposed to with patients directly, to offer and provide the funding for treatment to clinically suitable long waiting patients who are on an inpatient/day case waiting list for surgery, having been referred on to such a list following clinical assessment by a consultant/specialist at an outpatient clinic.
The key criteria of the NTPF is the prioritisation of the longest waiting patients first. While the NTPF identifies patients eligible for NTPF treatment, it is solely on the basis of their time spent on the Inpatient/Daycase Waiting List. The clinical suitability of the patient to avail of NTPF funded treatment is determined by the public hospital.
The HSE currently operates three schemes that facilitate patients accessing treatment abroad.
The EU Treatment Abroad Scheme (TAS) is a consultant led scheme and allows for an Ireland-based public consultant to refer a public patient who is normally resident in Ireland for treatment in the public healthcare system of another EU member state, the UK or Switzerland.
An alternative where the treatment is available in Ireland is the EU Cross Border Directive (CBD). The EU Cross Border Directive (CBD) provides rules for the reimbursements to patients of the cost of receiving treatment abroad, where the patient would be entitled to such treatment in their home Member State, and supplements the rights that patients already have at EU level.
Additionally, the Northern Ireland Planned Healthcare Scheme (NI PHS) has been in effective operation since 1 January 2021 having been introduced to mitigate the loss of access to care from private providers in Northern Ireland under the EU Cross Border Directive, which ceased to apply as a result of Brexit. The current administrative scheme enables persons ordinarily resident in the State to access and be reimbursed for private healthcare in Northern Ireland by the HSE, provided such healthcare is publicly available within Ireland.
The HSE provides further information on its website about how each of the schemes operates, including the criteria for eligibility:
www2.hse.ie/services/schemes-allowances/
