The results of a cross-Border health initiative, released at a conference at Dublin Castle yesterday, show the success of sharing medical services between North and South.
The Cross-Border Acute Projects (C-BAP) was carried out during 1998 and 1999 by the Craigavon Area Hospital Group Trust and the North Eastern Health Board.
A shared dermatology service resulted in the treatment of 211 Northern patients in Southern hospitals and 194 Southern patients in hospitals in the North. This was achieved by setting up outpatient clinics at four sites along and across the Border and by employing a full-time dermatologist.
The initiative also succeeded in reducing waiting lists. Prior to the intervention, Dundalk had a waiting list of 168 patients with skin problems, which was completely cleared by the project.
When patients were surveyed on the advantages of health co-operation, 66 per cent said it shortened waiting lists and 20 per cent felt it improved access to medical services.
Mr Paul Robinson, chief executive of the North Eastern Health Board, said the next key step was to perform a needs assessment of the one million people who live in the Border region.
"We need to look at a range of regional services which can be provided on a collaborative basis in hospitals such as Cavan, Monaghan, Dundalk, Craigavon and Newry," he said.
As well as making the dermatology initiative a permanent arrangement, Mr Robinson said he hoped to see co-operation on issues such as the provision of dialysis.
The authors of the report on the project - Ms Amanda Hayes, Mr Derek Birrell and Ms Anne Marie Gray of the University of Ulster - said some barriers to co-operation had emerged but these were confined to differences in legislation and management structures.
However, they noted that "the readiness of patients to engage in cross-Border co-operation in health issues is an acknowledgement that health concerns do not recognise political boundaries".
The project is already in its second phase, where it is developing a cross-Border pain management initiative as well as services for post-natal depression and the management of leg ulcers.
"The Challenges and Changes for Healthcare" conference also heard from Prof Brian Edwards, professor of healthcare development at Sheffield University, on the need to develop clinical networks rather than single hospital units if cross-Border healthcare was to develop.
"Networks can cross borders which individual hospitals cannot, allowing flexibility in making joint appointments, for example," he said.