Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 17 January 2024
1551. Deputy Kathleen Funchion asked the Minister for Health when a person (details supplied) will have a procedure carried out; and if they can avail of the cross-Border directive, given the circumstances. [56781/23]
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 when a particular individual will have a procedure carried out, as this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
In relation to the Cross Border Directive, 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/
As the Deputy may be aware, management and administrative grade staff in the Fórsa union in the HSE commenced industrial action on Friday 6th October. As a consequence of this industrial action, members in these grades are not engaging with political forums or processes. As a result, the question asked by the Deputy may be delayed in receiving a response directly from the HSE.
