Extra staff needed to deal with surge in cross-border patient figures

THE soaring number of waiting list and other public patients who are availing of the EU scheme to have treatment in Northern Ireland or another country has forced the HSE to draft in more staff to deal with the exodus.

The scheme allows patients to receive treatment outside the State and be reimbursed for the cost after paying upfront.

The HSE reimbursed 3,763 patients with €11.8m last year compared to 2,011 at a cost of €4.4m in 2017, the ‘Medical Independent’ reported.

Health Minister Simon Harris, in a response to Social Democrat TD Róisín Shortall, said the normal turnaround time for requests for the office was 20 days, but this has now extended to 50 days due to volumes of activity.

A review of staffing levels at the HSE’s office dealing with the directive is under way due to the huge increase in work activity at the office, it is understood.

“HSE informs me that it remains committed to monitoring and reviewing this situation and providing reimbursement to cross-border directive patients in a timely manner, given the resources it has available,” he said.

The HSE said the backlog of thousands of cancelled patient appointments due to the nurses’ strike will add to waiting lists.

There are around 70,000 public patients waiting for surgery and more than 511,000 for an outpatient appointment.

‘The HSE remains committed to reimbursing patients’