To ask the Minister of Health whether his Department is considering expanding the cross-border elective healthcare scheme to include diagnostic assessments for ASD and ADHD.

As outlined in my statement to the Assembly, I plan to establish a new Waiting List Reduction Reimbursement Scheme, as part of a package of initiatives to tackle hospital care backlogs.

The Scheme will allow patients, who have been placed on a Health and Social Care waiting list for elective surgery or treatment, the option to seek and pay for treatment in the private sector and have the cost reimbursed. Diagnostic assessments for ASD and ADHD will be outside the parameters of the Scheme.