Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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2149.To ask the Minister for Health if a review of the cross-Border agreement is under way regarding cancer and cardiac care with a hospital (details supplied); and the approximate date by which the review will be completed and published. [31751/24]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The Department of Health is committed to continuing close and productive cooperation with Northern Ireland on health and social care issues. I recently met with Minister Nesbitt to discuss cooperation in the health sector at the twenty-fifth North South Ministerial Council Health and Food Safety meeting, which was held in the NSMC Joint Secretariat Offices, Armagh on 27 June 2024.

There is also ongoing engagement at official level, and this includes work on the exploration of those areas of health cooperation that could be further expanded to benefit residents on the island of Ireland on a cross border basis.

There are a number of agreements in place covering specific specialist services at Altnagelvin Hospital that ensure that patients can receive medical services as close to home as possible. This has helped reduce travel time, and the ease of access, which has been hugely beneficial for patients, their families, and carers.

On cancer care, the North-West Cancer Centre at Altnagelvin Area Hospital is a £66m sterling capital development project that has been funded on a North-South basis and commenced providing services at the end of 2016. The HSE contributed €19m to the building of the Centre and pays an agreed amount for Irish patients to be treated there. This cross-border initiative offers cancer patients within 90 minutes road journey of the city of Derry, access to radiotherapy in Altnagelvin. This service is governed by a Service Level Agreement (SLA) between the HSE and the Western Health and Social Care Trust and this was previously reviewed in 2019 and subsequently updated. There is currently no ongoing review of services.

With regards to cardiac care, since May 2016, primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (pPCI) services have also been available at Altnagelvin Hospital for patients from County Donegal supporting lifesaving and urgent cardiac catherterisation treatment. The cross-border pPCI facilitates timely access (less than 90mins) for patients with acute heart attack in County Donegal. The service is governed by a Service Level Agreement between Saolta, HSE and the Western Health and Social Care Trust in Northern Ireland and ensures patients within a 90-minute journey time can receive pPCI at the Altnagelvin Hospital following a ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction (heart attack) diagnosis in an emergency setting. In view of the distances this timeline is not achievable for transfers to Galway University Hospital (GUH). The service is well regarded by the HSE and is successful in providing vital life-saving treatment or those with an acute STEMI heart attack. The HSE have confirmed their appreciation of the on-call service for emergency primary PCI at Altnagelvin Hospital, and they have advised that there are no plans, at present, to avail of further cardiac service development, which is provided in a safe and timely fashion from Galway University Hospital.

Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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2150.To ask the Minister for Health if he is aware of the potential for developing cross-Border co-operation with a hospital (details supplied), particularly in the area of paediatric care; and if consideration is being given to the use of its theatre facilities, dental and other health facilities. [31752/24]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The Department of Health is committed to continuing close and productive cooperation with Northern Ireland on health and social care issues and I recently met with Minister Nesbitt to discuss cooperation in the health sector at the twenty-fifth North South Ministerial Council Health and Food Safety meeting which was held in the NSMC Joint Secretariat Offices, Armagh on 27 June 2024.

There are a number of existing agreements in place covering specific specialist Cross Border initiatives that ensure that patients can receive a range of medical procedures/services as close to home as possible. This has helped reduce travel time, and the ease of access, which has been hugely beneficial for patients, their families and carers across the island.

With regards to the use of medical facilities at Daisy Hill Hospital, the HSE advises that there a service level agreement (SLA) between the RCSI Hospital Group and the Southern Health and Social Care Trust, in Northern Ireland, in relation to the provision of ear, nose and throat (ENT) outpatient and minor day case surgeries by ENT consultants from Southern Trust Northern Ireland in Daisy Hill Hospital.

With respect to paediatric care, at present, there is no planned cooperation with Daisy Hill Hospital beyond the already established All-Island Congenital Heart Disease Network, whereby children in Northern Ireland with Congenital Heart Disease can now receive emergency, urgent and new elective surgery in Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) at Crumlin rather than travelling to Great Britain.

In terms of dental care, there are no arrangements in place at present to procure oral healthcare services for HSE patients at Daisy Hill Hospital. The HSE does however give ongoing consideration to the potential of engaging capacity in healthcare facilities in Northern Ireland, including Daisy Hill Hospital, in the management of oral healthcare services.

Additionally, there is ongoing engagement at official level to explore areas of health cooperation that could be further expanded to benefit residents on the island of Ireland on a cross border basis.