Hospital Opens In Spain To Treat Irish Patients On Waiting Lists

Patients will have to pay for the service but will be reimbursed by the HSE.

Up to 1,500 routine surgeries on Irish patients are set to be carried out at a new Spanish hospital.

Under the EU Cross Border Directive, patients can be referred for treatments at the 62 bed facility in Alicante, which opens today.

Patients will have to pay for the service but will be reimbursed by the HSE.

However, travel costs will not be covered by health executive, and patients will pay for their own flight and accommodation costs.

Almost every treatment that is currently available on the Irish public system will be provided at the new hospital.

The deal has been agreed by the Hospital Clinical Benidorm Hospitales group (HCB) and Healthcare Abroad, an Irish logistics company which assist the patients to use the scheme, travel and have their care at the new facility.

Barry Whyte outline the details of the scheme and what it entails;

Meath West TD and Aontú Leader Peadar Tóibín TD has questioned the logic of the HSE providing hospital services in Spain while closing an A&E in Ireland.

Deputy Tóibín commented: “News that a hospital has opened up on the Costa Blanca, Spain which is dedicated to the treatment of Irish patients on waiting lists sounds like an April Fools joke 2 months late.

"At a time of Climate Change the HSE thinks it better that patients take flights to Spain to get health treatment than travel to their local hospital.

"Right in the middle of a Cost of Living Crisis the HSE expects sick patients to get flights and hotel accommodation in Spain to undergo routine operations.

“Covid has made international travel extremely unpredictable. Another serious wave of Covid could see the Spanish government restrict travel from Ireland. Where would that leave Irish treatment in the Costa Blanca Hospital.

"The HSE is outsourcing public healthcare to a private Spanish Hospital Group," he stated. 

The Minister for Health must detail openly what is the cost of this contract and will the HSE pay for the use of this hospital even if Irish patients cant travel because of Covid.  

"The whole plan is stranger than fiction especially when you consider that the HSE is closing down Hospital capacity here in Navan because the they won’t provide acute surgery services.       

“The mind boggles to think what the next HSE plan will be. Mental Health in Morocco, Maternity Services in Milan, Coronary Care in Copenhagen.

"The Minister needs to reign in the HSE and refocus them on providing Irish patients with public health care in Ireland," he added.