To ask the Minister of Health, when using private resources to carry out NHS treatment, whether a patient’s Health and Social Care Trust has a responsibility to maximise efficiency, convenience and cost for the patient.

When a reasonable offer of treatment is made by a Trust to a waiting list patient, the availability of service capacity will normally take precedence over the convenience and travel time to the provider. Patients have the option to accept or decline the offer. Reference: Integrated Elective Access Protocol Reasonable Offers:

4.5.3 A reasonable offer is defined as:

• an offer of admission, irrespective of provider or location, that gives the patient a minimum of three weeks’ notice and a choice of two To Come In dates, and

• at least one of the offers must be within Northern Ireland., except for any regional specialties where there are no alternative providers within Northern Ireland.