Written answers

Wednesday, 1 March 2017

Department of Health

Treatment Abroad Scheme

Photo of Fiona O'LoughlinFiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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244. To ask the Minister for Health the procedure that persons must follow to secure funding for life saving treatment which is not available in any EU state or Switzerland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10525/17]

Photo of Simon HarrisSimon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The HSE operates the Treatment Abroad Scheme (TAS) for persons entitled to treatment in another EU/EEA member state or Switzerland under EU Regulation (EC) No. 883/2004, as per the procedures set out in EU Regulations (EC) No. 987/2009, and in accordance with Department of Health Guidelines. Patients have the ability to apply to the HSE TAS seeking access to public healthcare outside the state through model form E112. The application requires the patient's Irish based public referring hospital consultant, following clinical assessment, to certify, among other things, that the treatment is medically necessary and will meet the patient's needs. The treatment must not be available within the State or not available within a time normally necessary for obtaining it.

There is no statutory framework for referral of patients outside the EU/EEA member states. In the instance that a consultant wishes to refer a patient to a non-EU/EEA country e.g. the USA, the HSE TAS applies the TAS administrative process and documentation for the purposes of such applications. Such applications for treatment in non-EU/EEA countries are required to provide evidence that the treatment is not available within the EU/EEA. Treatment availed of under the scheme must not be of an experimental or "trial" nature and must be legally available in the country where it is being sought.

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