A new state-of-the-art hospital that has opened in Spain is expected to deliver 1,500 operations annually to Irish public health patients as part of a new agreement under the EU Cross Border Directive.

Hospital HCB Dénia, located in Alicante, will provide routine healthcare treatments to Irish patients through the Irish company Healthcare Abroad. This company specialises in helping people to utilise their entitlements under the EU Cross Border Directive, helping them to access healthcare in a faster manner.

Almost every treatment that is currently available in the Irish public health system is provided in this new hospital. Procedures expected to be carried out on Irish patients include hip, knee and shoulder operations, gynaecological procedures and weight-loss procedures.

Healthcare Abroad will support patients with all logistical elements of the process, including clinical and diagnostic records, accommodation, flights, and post-care arrangements. 

However, it should be noted that while the cost of treatment can be reclaimed through the HSE under the EU Cross Border Directive, the costs associated with travel (flights and accommodation) and post-care medications are borne by the patient.

According to Healthcare Abroad’s chief operations officer, Paul Byrne, this partnership “will transform the lives of many Irish patients, facilitating a faster pathway to access important healthcare treatments which will have an immediate impact on their quality of life”.

“We support patients through the entire process, from liaising with Irish GPs and medical staff at the hospital to organising flights, accommodation, post-operative care and financial supports if required.

“We are acutely conscious of how stressful and debilitating ill health can be and it is our mission to get people back to good health as quickly as possible and enable them to return to living full, healthy and active lives, free from pain and discomfort,” he said.

The €60 million hospital is part of the HCB Hospitales group, a private family healthcare group established in 1986. According to Ana Vasbinder of the hospital, it will be “a home away from home for our Irish patients”.