Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Does the Government have plans to revise the cross-border directive or the planned healthcare scheme when it is applied to the North? Recently a woman contacted me who requires two knee replacements. She has been advised that she will have to wait for at least two years in the public system here for an operation. When she inquired about having the operation in Derry, she was told she would be approved by the HSE for just over €11,000 for the operation, but it costs in excess of £12,000, which equates to more than €14,800. That is a difference of €3,800 per operation and more than €7,600 in total. It is beyond her capacity and that of most ordinary people to pay that amount.

We would much rather see the public system here being able to accommodate all patients, but that will not happen any time soon. Instead of having people waiting in agony for years, is there a possibility the prices here can be reviewed to bring them into line with what is being charged in the North or vice versa?

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