Mr. Ger Deering:

It actually says "in advance of your treatment." There is a debate about what constitutes "in advance of your treatment". If you have a consultation on the morning of the treatment, is that "in advance of your treatment"? There is sometimes a view taken the morning of the treatment is not in advance. There is a need for greater flexibility. The approach needs to be that we assist people to benefit from these schemes, rather than being overly bureaucratic in terms of how we assess the applications when they arrive. We should be encouraging the use of these schemes and making it easier for people who use them to get refunded. One of the problems is that people will already have spent this money. You do not apply in advance for some of these schemes. You go and have the treatment done. You do what you believe is right, but you could unfortunately find yourself quite considerably out of pocket. Some of these people get loans from credit unions. We have also found cases where the HSE is looking for proof that someone got a loan from a credit union, or from their sister or wherever. We think that is probably a bridge too far. If people are able to access money to get it done, they need that money refunded when they get the treatment.

An important consideration is that we have sometimes heard the term "health tourism". I am not saying it was from the HSE. Speaking as somebody who has unfortunately been through some health procedures, I cannot imagine that anybody really wants to go abroad to have treatment unless they really have to do so. It is a traumatic and difficult time for people. If you could get it done locally or in this jurisdiction, you would get it done in this jurisdiction. The mere fact that people go abroad and pay to have this treatment means they are in pain and are suffering. They need the treatment, and as Deputy Buckley has said, they need a bit of compassion, empathy and understanding when they come back to get their treatment refunded.