PATIENTS FROM outside Dublin were being refused treatment in the capital’s hospitals because they were not living in the catchment area, Independent Donegal South West TD Thomas Pringle claimed.

He said one young Donegal woman had been turned down for treatment in St Vincent’s hospital.

“The hospital removed a spinal stimulator from her back to carry out an MRI scan and now refuses to replace it. This is a specialist treatment that can only be provided in this hospital.”

It appeared, he said, that the Dublin hospitals were not being paid by the Health Service Executive for that kind of treatment because the patients lived in a certain part of the country.

Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore said the Government was reforming the health services, particularly the way hospitals operated. The key to reform was through the development of an effective primary care system. Already this year a significant amount of money had been allocated to develop primary care centres.

He said there was also a reform programme to achieve more efficient and effective use of hospital resources and reduce waiting lists to ensure people got access to the treatment and procedures they needed without having to wait for long periods.

Mr Pringle said he was referring to vital treatments which patients were being refused because they did not live in Dublin.

Mr Gilmore said that if Mr Pringle supplied the details of the Donegal case, or any others that might exist, he would ask Minister for Health Dr James Reilly to address them.