James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of the Minister for Health, I thank Deputy Burke for raising this matter, which is of importance to many women right across the country. The HSE provides an extensive range of medical aids and appliances to individuals living with a wide variety of medical conditions. Those aids and appliances support individuals to continue living within their communities and to enjoy a greater quality of life than would otherwise be the case.

Community funded schemes are the collective name for the provision of these products and services. The HSE spends in excess of €300 million per annum on that provision nationally. The medical aids and appliances are prescribed on the basis of an identified clinical need. Historically, many of these aids and appliances were not provided on a standardised basis across the country and did not have formal contracts in place governing their supply or cost.

This resulted in an inequality of access for some aids and appliances in some areas. It also did not allow the HSE to deliver best value for money in the provision of these products.

As part of the HSE’s service improvement programme for the community-funded schemes, a national advisory group examined the provision of post-mastectomy products with the intent of ensuring a standardised provision nationwide. A new national standard operating procedure has been devised for the provision of post-mastectomy bras and prostheses. These will now be provided to all patients, irrespective of medical card status, following partial and full mastectomies, who have not undergone reconstructive surgery. The patient will be provided with their initial post-mastectomy products in the acute hospital where their surgery took place and subsequent provision, which normally would be one year post mastectomy, will be through the CHO where they reside.

The HSE advised that the updated procedure on the provision of post-mastectomy products is to ensure greater access and equity along with a simplified administrative procedure for patients. The new national procedure replaces any previously existing local procedure. In addition to improving equity and access for all patients who require post-mastectomy products, it will also ensure the same level of contribution to purchase those products is available to each patient. The need for this arose due to awareness of a significant variation in the practice of funding post-mastectomy products across the country. The standardised approach seeks to speed up and simplify the process and decrease the burden placed on patients and administrative staff alike.

The overriding goal is to provide practical, clear and unambiguous processes. The scope of this new procedure applies to all breast cancer patients, irrespective of medical card status, who have undergone a partial or full mastectomy only and all healthcare professionals involved in the care of such service users.

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