Newry Armagh MLA Liz Kimmins has made a call for the Health Minister to urgently work to secure a replacement Cross Border Health Directive scheme. Since Brexit on the 31st December 2020, the North of Ireland’s has lost access to an important healthcare scheme.
Speaking in relation to the issue, Liz said,
“The Cross Border Health Directive enabled residents of the North to receive healthcare treatment in the South of Ireland as part of the EU, which was then refunded by the Health Service. A consequence of the Brexit mess is that this scheme is no longer available to people from the North and this is causing grave concerns.
“The most recent statistics have shown that at the end of last year there were 323,174 people on the waiting list for outpatient services, with 51,812 of those from the Southern Trust area.”
“My office is inundated with people awaiting surgeries and even vital first appointments. The issue is clearly getting worst, partly due to the impact of the covid pandemic on hospital capacity.
“Figures have also shown that there are 167,806 patients waiting longer than 52 weeks for their first outpatient appointment.
“The Cross Border Health Directive went a long way to helping to alleviate the pressures felt by our Health Service, and now that access to this has been taken away for people from the North, I have serious concerns about how this will further compound the waiting lists and the impacts of those.
“Yet again, we are seeing the outworkings of Brexit which has been delivered by the DUP and their Tory partners, against the wishes of the people of the North. Access to timely and efficient healthcare should have no borders and it is essential that the Health Minister takes strong action to secure a replacement for this vital scheme.
ENDS
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