To ask the Minister of Health for an update on his Department’s bid for funding to reinstate the cross-border healthcare scheme.

The Republic of Ireland Reimbursement Scheme (RoIRS) was introduced on 30 June 2021 as part of the Elective Care Framework to help reduce waiting lists in Northern Ireland (NI). The scheme was a limited 12-month administrative version of the Cross-Border Healthcare Directive which ceased to apply to NI following the UK’s exit from the EU.

A bid for funding for a replacement scheme was submitted during the 2024/25 budget setting process as part of a wider bid for £135million of additional funding to tackle waiting lists. It was intended that a new reimbursement scheme could have treated over 4,000 patients this financial year.

Unfortunately, under the 2024/25 Budget, no additional funding was provided for tackling our waiting lists and the focus has had to be on supporting those on cancer and time critical waiting lists. In addition, the draft budget for 2025/26 does not provide any additional funding for waiting list reduction initiatives.

As such, there is no funding available at present to reinstate a cross-border reimbursement scheme.