The HSE is reimbursing the full cost of hip and knee replacements for patients from County Louth attending Kingsbridge Private Hospital in Belfast following a revision of the Northern Ireland Planned Healthcare Scheme (NIPHS) last year. 

A team from Kingsbridge Private Hospital will be at the Gateway Hotel in Dundalk on Tuesday (Feb 25) to talk through the range of fully subsidised treatments and surgeries available at their facilities in Belfast and Derry.

Patients with a referral from their GP can have a consultation and surgery within a month of their first contact with Kingsbridge.

With HSE outpatient waiting lists of 1,900 at the Louth County Hospital in Dundalk and 17,700 at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda  – including 7,190 waiting more than six months – patients are exploring cross-border treatment in Northern Ireland instead.

In 2024, more than 50 patients from Co Louth had surgery in Kingsbridge Private Hospital in Belfast including 18 cataract operations and 15 joint replacements.

Following a revision of the NIPHS at the end of 2024, the HSE is now refunding the full cost of hip and knee replacement, hysterectomy, vasectomy and gall bladder surgery, and ACL repair at Kingsbridge Private Hospital on Belfast’s Lisburn Road – less than an hour from Dundalk – and Kingsbridge North West in Ballykelly, Co Derry.

Reimbursement under the HSE scheme also now covers 97% of the cost of a hernia repair, two thirds of the cost of breast reduction, half the cost of a tonsillectomy or carpal tunnel procedure, and 47% of the cost of cataract surgery.

A team from Kingsbridge Private Hospital led by Deirdre McKenny, Business Relationship Manager and GP Liaison, will host a Cross Border Healthcare Drop-In Roadshow in the Gateway Hotel in Dundalk on Tuesday from 10 am to 5 pm for people interested in learning more about the healthcare options in Belfast and in Ballykelly, Co Derry.

Kingsbridge Cross Border Healthcare advisors will guide visitors through the process step by step and assist them with completing and submitting the relevant HSE paperwork.

They will give advice on treatment costs and reimbursement rates, and what to expect when travelling to Kingsbridge Private Hospitals for treatment.  In most cases, surgical patients can have a consultation within a week and surgery within three weeks of making initial contact with Kingsbridge.

The Kingsbridge team will explain how the cross-border treatment subsidies work and discuss the logistics of travel to Belfast or Derry for consultations and surgery or treatment with one of the 450 Kingsbridge consultants.

Mark Regan, Chief Executive of Kingsbridge Healthcare Group which owns Kingsbridge Private Hospital, (above) said:  “Health needs do not recognise any border.  Our singular aim is to build on the legacy we’ve established and serve the healthcare requirements of the population of Ireland, north and south.

“We pride ourselves on being able to bridge clinical excellence with medicine and hospitality to enhance our patients’ experience, and we believe we can make a real and lasting difference to the outcomes for many more patients on this island.”

Apart from direct outreach to patients, Kingsbridge Private Hospital will engage intensively with GPs, patients and corporate organisations in the Republic through 2025 to build on its existing and long-standing relationships.  It is putting in place a network of satellite clinics across the island for patient aftercare and follow up.

It will offer fast access to first appointments and surgery via a new online booking platform.  Patients will be able to follow their own treatment pathway by registering on the Kingsbridge patient portal. The Belfast and Derry hospitals boast state of the art facilities with robotic surgery and pharmacies on site.