Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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657. To ask the Minister for Health the position in relation to the ambulance bus that brings people from Baltinglass, County Wicklow, to St Luke's, Dublin, for radiotherapy daily and collects them and brings them home (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19065/13]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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Patient transport is the responsibility of the HSE. However, people attending outpatient and hospital appointments are, in general, expected to make their own travel arrangements, using private or scheduled public transport. The exceptions are for dialysis, cancer (radiotherapy and chemotherapy) and post-operative transplant patients, where transport may be provided. In these cases, the patient's appointment should be directly related to treatment of the condition.

Following implementation of the HSE's non-ambulance patient transport policy, responsibility for the arrangement and provision of non-ambulance transport has moved from the HSE National Ambulance Service to local health offices in each region. In relation to the specific query raised by the Deputy, as this is a service matter it has been referred to the HSE for direct reply.