The Health Service Executive is to cut prices from tomorrow that it pays to reimburse people who travel to Northern Ireland for cataract surgery.
The amount for standard eye treatments has been reduced from nearly €2,000 to €1,150.
In Cork, the organisers of a bus service bringing cataract patients to Belfast have slammed the move as “shameful”.
It is known as the ‘cataract express’ and the 7am bus in Cork city is packed with patients going to Northern Ireland before tomorrow’s cuts kick in.
Thousands of people have come off waiting lists since the initiative was launched in 2017.
Doctors say in most cases cataract surgery is a simple but life-changing procedure which can be done in about 20 minutes. But many people wait years to be seen, often leading to unnecessary suffering and blindness.
Patients with standard eye treatments will see their rate of reimbursement drop to €1,150 and there is concern that some people will cancel future trips and operations because of the reduced reimbursement.
Cork South West TD Michael Collins is one of the organisers of the bus and said patients in Cork and Kerry and other counties have been able to get their procedure done successfully.
“The bus has been a godsend for them but now some of these pensioners will not be able to afford to get the treatment. It’s no exaggeration to say that these people will go blind as a result. The Government’s decision is nothing short of outrageous,” Mr Collins said.
The HSE said there has been a delay in updating the pricing for cataract procedures due to Covid-19 and the re-classification of certain cataract procedures.
It said some prices have increased and some have decreased.
In a statement, HSE said it deferred reimbursement changes until 1 September to ensure no one is disadvantaged and to communicate the amended prices fully to patients and providers.
The payments for less complex eye treatments are due to fall from €1,912 to €1,150 or the National Health Service equivalent of £766 in Northern Ireland.
The most common cataract procedure payments will be reduced from €1,456 to €1,171.
The HSE said that the vast majority of procedures, which is 94%, fall into this new payment price.
It said that the more complex glaucoma/cataract treatment payments will rise from €1,912 to €4,206.
However, there are calls across the southern region to address the bigger issue of why people – most of them elderly – have to travel to Northern Ireland in the first place.
Killarney-based GP Dr Gary Stack said: “From my point of view the service for cataracts in the Cork and Kerry area is almost non-existent. I would say I’ve 30 times as many patients who travel to Northern Ireland for every one patient I would see get treated publicly in Cork.
“The procedures are centralised to Cork. The waiting lists stretch for years and there are serious concerns about eye care and people slowly losing their sight.
“To be honest I would love if there was no reimbursements and we could just get rid of waiting lists. In truth it’s an indictment of the health service that we cannot provide this life-changing service for people here at home.
“It’s so simple and so fast and gives people quality of life again, whether it’s reading or watching TV or using a laptop.
“But thousands suffer needlessly and there’s such a risk of falls as people’s vision drops. The falls lead to injuries like hip fractures and these fractures can lead to untimely deaths, so there are issues beyond the cataracts themselves.”
Kerry TDs Michael Healy-Rae and Danny Healy-Rae set up the cataract bus service with Mr Collins. He says the whole package costs patients about €3,000 taking travel, accommodation and the procedure itself into consideration.
The bus from Cork to Belfast this morning is carrying one of the last groups who will get around €2,000 reimbursed.