A private hospital in Belfast is seeing more and more patients coming from the Republic as part of the Cross Border Healthcare Directive.
The scheme allows people to get an operation in another EU member state and be reimbursed by the HSE.
The National Association of General Practitioners has confirmed it is now encouraging its members to refer patients directly to other EU member states especially the North because the public waiting lists are so long here.
Kingsbridge Private Hospital in Belfast has confirmed to Ocean FM that they have seen over 150 people from Donegal, and at least 50 coming from Leitrim and Sligo respectively in the last year alone with increased numbers in the past few weeks in particular.
CEO Mark Regan says there’s been a significant increase coming across the border especially in recent weeks:
Noeleen Maguire living on the Leitrim Cavan border says by using the Cross Border Healthcare Directive she was able to have the long awaited surgery within two months of contacting the hospital.
She says she was waiting over 12 months in pain in the republic and her GP referred her to the North.
She says she needed support to fund the hip surgery which cost around €10,000 but was refunded in full by the HSE:
CEO of Kingsbridge in Belfast Mark Regan says knee, hips and cataracts operations are the most common.
He says patients on public waiting lists in the North are also coming to their hospital in Sligo.
He says while he remains optimistic, it’s unclear how Brexit may affect this cross border healthcare initiative:
