Written answers

Thursday, 30 June 2016

Photo of Mattie McGrathMattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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220. To ask the Minister for Health the measures he proposes to put in place to offset the challenges which Irish health care patients who had planned to travel to the United Kingdom under the European Union cross-border directive will now face, given the recent European Union referendum there; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19002/16]

Photo of Simon HarrisSimon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The EU Directive 2011/24/EU on Patients’ Rights in Cross Border Healthcare aims to ensure EU citizens may access safe and good quality healthcare services across EU borders. The Directive establishes a framework for cross border healthcare between EU/EEA states to facilitate patients to access care in another Member State in accordance with their entitlements in their own country. Under the Directive, known as the Cross Border Healthcare Directive (CBD), insured patients are entitled to have the costs of cross-border healthcare services reimbursed if the healthcare service in question is among the benefits to which they are entitled in their Member State of affiliation. As such, it allows Irish residents to avail of healthcare in other EU or EEA (excluding Switzerland) Member States that they would be entitled to within the public health system in Ireland, which is not contrary to Irish legislation.

The result of the recent EU Referendum in the UK means that the UK electorate have declared their wish to leave the EU. It is important to be clear that the UK has not yet left the EU. Until it formally withdraws from the Union, it remains a full Member, with all of its existing rights and obligations.

I wish to assure the Deputy that there will be no immediate changes in the area of health as a consequence of the UK’s decision to leave the EU. Cross-border services and health cooperation between the UK and Ireland will not be affected in the immediate term. Arrangements are in place, building on an already completed initial risk assessment plan, to consider any longer-term implications of the referendum result. Irish patients who had planned to travel to the UK under the CBD in the near future may continue to do as planned.

The terms of a British exit from the EU are unknown at this stage. It is expected to take a minimum of two years of negotiations between all EU member states, including Ireland, to agree a new arrangement between the UK and the EU, and the Department of Health will be fully involved in these negotiations. Ensuring that there is minimum disruption in the area of health and that essential services are maintained will be our key priority.

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