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By Eimear Flanagan
BBC News NI
An EU healthcare option, no longer available in the UK due to Brexit, was growing in popularity on both sides of the Irish border, figures have shown.
Reimbursement is considered for both private and state-funded treatments.
More than £50m was spent reimbursing CBHD patients on both sides of the Irish border over the past five years.
It was particularly popular among cataract patients in the Republic of Ireland, about 2,000 of whom travelled to Belfast on so-called “cataracts buses” to have eye surgery in private clinics in recent years.
However, since the Brexit transition period ended on 31 December 2020, no new applications for help with costs for treatment after that date are being accepted from UK patients under the directive.
It means less choice for UK patients at a time when waiting lists are lengthening and NHS…
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