Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of the Minister, Deputy Harris, I thank the Deputy for raising this issue.

The directive on patients' rights in cross-border healthcare, commonly called the cross-border directive, provides rules for the reimbursement to patients of the cost of receiving treatment abroad where the patient would be entitled to such treatment in his or her home member state. The directive seeks to ensure a clear and transparent framework for the provision of cross-border healthcare within the European Union, for those occasions where the care patients seek is provided in another member state, rather than in their home country. The HSE is responsible for the operation of the cross-border directive and has a dedicated office resourced for this purpose. The office acts as the national contact point, as set out in governing European legislation, and processes applications for treatment received for the purposes of the operation of the directive.

As part of its functions as the national contact point, the cross-border directive office gives prior authorisation to patients availing of the directive where their treatment involves an overnight stay. I am informed by the HSE that applications for prior authorisation are generally processed within 15 to 20 working days. The vast majority of applications for prior authorisation currently in hand will be processed within that timeframe, with the remainder likely to be processed within 25 working days.

The cross-border directive was transposed into Irish legislation in June 2014. Since its transposition, awareness of the provisions of the directive has grown steadily. The number of claims for reimbursement being processed by the cross-border directive office has grown from 150 in the first full year, 2015, to 3,886 at the end of 2018. A total of 3,041 claims for reimbursement were received this year up until the end of August. The significant growth in use of the scheme and the associated increase in the number of applications being submitted have given rise to an increasing workload and a build-up of applications. The HSE has advised that the cross-border directive office is operating with a three-month backlog in the processing of claims.

Recognising this issue, officials from the Department met representatives of the HSE in July to discuss the issue of reimbursement delays affecting patients who had availed of treatment under the directive. The HSE has subsequently been requested to examine the current resourcing of the cross-border directive office and identify any necessary action needed to mitigate waiting times arising from current demand under the scheme. The Minister is aware that some measures have been put in place in the short term, for example, overtime and the deployment of trained staff to address the significant backlog in processing applications. Officials from the Department will continue to engage with the HSE to ensure appropriate action is taken to provide longer term solutions.

This matter was raised this morning during Leaders' Questions. The Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Deputy Bruton, made a commitment to the Deputy who raised it to bring it to the attention of the Minister for Health. I will do so also. If Deputy Joan Collins furnishes me with the email pertaining to the individuals in question, we might be able to process it.

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