Cross-border Healthcare

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Tuesday 4th November 2025 Westminster Hall

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

It is a real pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Dowd, as always. On behalf of us all, I look forward to your deliberations. I thank the hon. Member for Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe (David Chadwick)—I think I pronounced that right—for securing this debate. [Interruption.] Did I get it wrong? My apologies; the Northern Ireland accent gives it away nearly every time. While we are one United Kingdom, it is always important to remember the differences that we have in devolved matters, and in healthcare specifically—especially in Northern Ireland, where we have witnessed major disparities. It is a pleasure to make a contribution on that.

I want to talk about a cross-border health scheme that was used in Northern Ireland some years ago before our official exit from the European Union—although it appears that we never exited—and when we were all in the United Kingdom. The scheme meant that patients in Northern Ireland who had been on health and social care waiting lists for two years or more could apply to receive private treatment in the Republic of Ireland and claim reimbursement from the Northern Ireland Department of Health. When I was a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly and in my early years here at Westminster, I saw numerous examples of hip replacements, knee replacements and cataract operations being done down south because the patients had waited two years. The payment for the scheme then came from us in Northern Ireland. There are systems that work.

I thank the hon. Member for South Antrim (Robin Swann) for his contribution. He will probably be embarrassed by this, but I want to put on record that he was a great Health Minister when he was in the Northern Ireland Assembly, and I thank him for that. I never heard anyone say a bad word about him—and I talk to plenty of people, by the way—so I would say that he is an example of a Minister who really worked hard.

I know of a couple of constituents who availed themselves of the scheme and to say that their surgery was life-changing is an understatement. The hon. Member for South Antrim referred to his son. One of my constituents had a hip replacement and one had knee surgery. They could have been waiting up to 10 years for that surgery in Northern Ireland if they had not been able to avail themselves of the scheme with the Republic of Ireland. Those are some examples of how strategies like these work; I listened to hon. Members’ examples of similar processes in their constituencies.

I want to talk briefly about the importance of medical records. I spoke to the Minister about that beforehand, and others have referred to it. Through working closely with universities, I have witnessed a few examples where a young person lives in Northern Ireland and goes to Scotland or England for university. When they come back to Northern Ireland three or four years later, healthcare professionals cannot access their information as there is no shared provision for medical records. I hope that the Minister will forgive me, but it seems illogical not to have a system that takes that on board.

One of my staff members who went to Chester to study was in that exact scenario around 10 years ago. She had to travel back to England and pay £50 for a printout of her records to take to her GP back home. We must not forget that £50 was a lot of money for a student 10 years ago. It might be expected that the cost has now gone way beyond that.

This debate is really important, so I want to make sure that other hon. Members get their five minutes as well. There are clear examples of where cross-border health initiatives work and are beneficial to supporting people who are faced with extensive waiting lists and serious conditions that alter their day-to-day life. I look to the Minister—as I always do, because she answers us and listens to our requests—for a commitment to ensuring that our constituents have access to the care that they need, whether it be cross-border or within our healthcare systems in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Furthermore, hon. Members have shared experiences of the medical records issue within our constituencies. When so many people travel to different parts of this nation to study, more must be done to ensure that their records can flow smoothly and without hassle. My goodness, Mr Dowd, a life without hassle—it would be a miracle.