Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 22 June 2022
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health
Rare Diseases: Discussion (Resumed)
Mr. Liam Woods:
I get that. Normally, the connection for us, through the treatment abroad scheme, is the treating clinician or clinical colleagues here referring to an expert in a subspecialism internationally. The treatment abroad scheme is geared to resource and facilitate those kinds of connections. There is an advisory in specialties, and clinical leads, that fulfil that role in assessing appropriate locations, supporting patients in going to them and creating the connections required to facilitate that, if there is a treatment available somewhere else that is not available here. The treatment abroad scheme facilitates that on an ongoing basis. As the Deputy rightly said, it is not just about rare diseases. It could be any condition for which there is a treatment that we may not have a service in at present.
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