Peter Cleere (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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750. To ask the Minister for Health if consideration would be given to reimburse cost or part cost of private medical procedures incurred by people before the cross-Border Directive scheme and Northern Ireland planned healthcare scheme were introduced; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33540/25]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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The EU Cross Border Directive (CBD) provides rules for the reimbursements to patients of the cost of receiving treatment abroad, where the patient would be entitled to such treatment in their home Member State, and supplements the rights that patients already have at EU level. The European Union (Application of Patients’ Rights in Cross-Border Healthcare) Regulations 2014 were signed on 14 May 2014 and commenced on 1 June 2014, and subsequently the HSE is in the position to operate the terms of the Directive in Ireland. Under the terms of the CBD, patients in Ireland can seek to be referred to another EU/EEA country for medical treatment that is available in the public health service in Ireland. The patient may access the overseas service in either the public or private health sector of the country they choose to receive the service in. The patient pays for the treatment and claims reimbursement from the HSE at the cost of that treatment in Ireland or the cost of it abroad, whichever is the lesser. The HSE, in fulfilling its role as the National Contact Point (NCP) in Ireland, provides information for patients on the operation of the CBD, including on its website: www2.hse.ie/services/schemes-allowances/cross-border-directive/

The principal function of the National Contact Point is to facilitate exchange of information for patients concerning their rights and entitlements relating to receiving healthcare in another Member State, in particular the terms and conditions for reimbursement of cost and the procedures for accessing and determining those entitlements.

The Northern Ireland Planned Healthcare Scheme (NIPHS) has been in effective operation since 1 January 2021. This Scheme was introduced to mitigate the loss of access to care from private providers in Northern Ireland under the EU Cross Border Directive, which ceased to apply as a result of Brexit. The current administrative scheme enables persons ordinarily resident in the State to access and be reimbursed for private healthcare in Northern Ireland by the HSE, provided such healthcare is publicly available within Ireland. Such healthcare will be reimbursed at the cost of providing that treatment in the State or the cost of same in Northern Ireland, whichever is the lesser.

Patients are advised to contact the HSE NI Planned Healthcare office directly for further information on individual applications for reimbursement under the NI Planned Healthcare Scheme. Further information and contact details are available on the HSE NI Planned Healthcare website: www2.hse.ie/services/schemes-allowances/niphs/. Where a person accesses private healthcare in Ireland there is no facility for the cost of that care to be reimbursed by the public health system.