Brexit effect on medical tourism in Ireland

Health tourism from Northern Ireland post-Brexit could pose a threat to Irish health services.

The Royal College of Physicians in Ireland (RCPI) has warned the Department of Health of the Republic of Ireland that health tourism from Northern Ireland post-Brexit could pose a threat to Irish health services.

RCPI worries that one result of Brexit could be that the funding provided to the NHS in Northern Ireland may decrease. This could potentially pose a threat to the already pressurised healthcare system in the Republic if increasing numbers of people living in Northern Ireland decide to access services in the Republic.

A number of areas where Brexit could impact on cross-border healthcare services and cooperation were also highlighted, with the all-island Paediatric Cardiac Surgery Programme to treat congenital heart disease given particular prominence.

The Congenital Heart Disease Network is the first significant all-island model of clinical care, and works largely out of Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin in partnership with Royal Hospital, Belfast, alongside the Mater in Dublin.