HSE’s cataract reimbursement funding cuts to hit more than 4,000 on the waiting list

It follows the HSE’s decision to cut the level of reimbursement to patients in the Republic who are on long waiting lists and opt to go to a hospital in Northern Ireland for cataract surgery under the cross-border deal.

The HSE gesture – described as mean-spirited and shameful by Independent TDs who organise “Belfast or Blind” buses to take people from Cork and Kerry in particular to the North – will see reimbursement for the most common procedure fall from €1,456 to €1,171.

Under the scheme, the patient pays the cost upfront but is reimbursed by the HSE.

Official figures show that more than 4,000 people aged over 70 are on waiting lists for cataract surgery with 314 in the queue for over a year, including 97 waiting over 18 months.

Cork Independent TD Michael Collins who has been involved in the buses said the service had organised more than 150 trips to the North.

He said the buses were “filled with good, ordinary hard-working people who were absolutely betrayed by major service deficits here at home. The reimbursement rates were the one positive element of the health system that rescued it from total cruelty.”

The HSE said the price of procedures carried out in the Republic of Ireland was set by the HSE Health Pricing Office (HPO), based on information provided by our acute hospitals, and using an international classification system.

This price is then charged by acute hospitals in the Republic of Ireland, and reimbursed by the HSE.

The HSE had not updated the pricing of procedures for the last few years due to Covid.

The cost of the most common cataract procedure this year has reduced and is now €1,171. It was €1,456 last year.

For the purpose of comparison, the cost of the equivalent cataract procedure in the UK’s public NHS healthcare system is £766 or €909.

“We understand, however, that Northern Ireland providers are charging well in excess of this,” a HSE spokesperson said.

Reimbursement for more complex treatments will increase from €1,912 to €4,206.

Waiting list figures for a key group, the over-70s, reveal that University Hospital Waterford, Galway University Hospital and the Mater Hospital Dublin have the highest number of over-70s on waiting lists for cataract surgeries for over 18 months.

Asked to comment on the importance of cataract surgery, ophthalmologist Dr Mark Cahill of the Eye and Ear Hospital in Dublin said the vision impairment due to cataracts can leave people struggling with day-to-day activities because they cannot see properly.

He said it can reduce a person’s independence and they are “at greater risk of falling”.

It should be acknowledged the HSE has been involved in various initiatives in recent years, including outsourcing to reduce the length of time people are waiting for cataract surgery, he said.