Donegal patients are jumping long hospital waiting lists by going to Spain for free surgery instead, Donegal Daily can reveal.
More than two dozen people from the county have already travelled to a private hospital in the upmarket seaside resort of Denia on Spain’s Costa Blanca.
The city is an hour north of Alicante.
Many of the patients have been for surgery to the €60M HCB hospital in Denia – dubbed ‘the Irish hospital’ by locals – as so many Irish people have availed of the free treatment since it opened last summer through the organisation Healthcare Abroad.
Patients are reimbursed the costs of surgery by the HSE under the EU Cross Border Directive, a law brought in across Europe in 2014 which allows all 450 million people in the European Union to access to healthcare in another European country.
A list of available surgeries is available on healthcareabroad.ie Patients don’t even have to be on a waiting list. The trend towards surgery and procedures in Spain follows an increase in waiting times and the increasing extra costs for treatments in Northern Ireland since Brexit.
Most popular procedures carried out in Spain include ACL surgery, knee and hip replacements and varicose vein operations. Weight-loss surgery is also available. Cataract surgery at the world-class Vissum Eye Hospital in Alicante is also popular as patients can have cataracts removed from both eyes during the same trip.
Spain’s top coronary surgeons in Madrid are also available under the scheme.
“In the vast majority of cases we see from County Donegal, patients have been on waiting lists for some time and are often in pain,” said a Healthcare Abroad spokesperson.
“However, patients do not have to be on a waiting list. All we require at the outset is a referral from a GP. As a general rule, any procedure available at a public hospital in Ireland is available at a private hospital in Spain and the HSE will pay for it.”
Patients do have to pay for flights and hotels in Spain, but specially negotiated rates can see them stay in pool-side rooms in 4-star hotels for as little as €60 per night per room B&B.
“Donegal patients tend to fly to Alicante from Belfast International Airport, with several flights per week with both EasyJet and Jet2.com,” said the spokesperson.
“There are also options with Ryanair from Dublin, and from Knock from this March, again with Ryanair. We collect all our patients at the airport and provide free private transfers to their hotel and transport during their stay between their hotel and the hospital.
“Feedback from our Donegal patients has been overwhelmingly positive; not least the fact that rehab and recovery take place in glorious Spanish sunshine.”
Under the EU law, patients pay the full cost of the surgery, Healthcare Abroad does all the paperwork and the HSE refunds the full costs around 12 to 16 weeks later. An arrangement exists with most Credit Unions which allows for them to pay for the surgery directly – with the HSE reimbursing the Credit Union.
Irish patients are loving the experience.
“The treatment I received in the HCB Hospital in Dénia was first class,” said footballer Rory O’Sullivan.
“It couldn’t have gone any better. I’d heard about the cross-border scheme from a friend and was advised to call Healthcare Abroad. They helped deal with all the forms and referrals from my GP and when I arrived in Alicante I was collected at the airport by an executive driver and taken to a lovely 4-star hotel for a couple of nights before surgery.
“I had a consultation with my surgeon who has performed so many similar operations before. I felt reassured straight away. The operation itself went very well. I didn’t feel a thing.
“The insurance I had only covered less than half of any surgery costs in Ireland, so I began to look into it further and realised that the full cost of the operation I badly needed could be covered under the EU Cross Border scheme,” said the data analyst.
“I just had to pay for my flights and the hotel, and the hotel was very cheap because of the arrangement they have with Healthcare Abroad.”
