Question from Deputy Ken O'Flynn - PQ 23911-26

To ask the Minister for Health the mechanisms in place to ensure consistency of decision-making across the six HSE health regions in respect of applications to the Treatment Abroad Scheme; to confirm whether any central monitoring, benchmarking, or variance analysis is carried out to identify differences in approval rates or referral patterns between regions; and if not, whether she accepts that the absence of such mechanisms may give rise to inequity in access to State-funded treatment.