Ken O'Flynn

640. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health the number of internal audits, external audits, Comptroller and Auditor General reviews, or governance reviews concerning the treatment abroad scheme have taken place since 2020, broken down by year. [41206/26]

641. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether any audit, review, or oversight process relating to the treatment abroad scheme identified deficiencies in data collection, reporting, expenditure monitoring, or governance controls since 2020. [41207/26]

642. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether minutes, reports, briefing documents, dashboards, or expenditure summaries arising from quarterly treatment abroad scheme oversight meetings with the Department of Health Eligibility Unit are retained centrally. [41208/26]

643. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether the treatment abroad scheme maintains outcome-monitoring data regarding procedures funded abroad, including complication rates, revision procedures, adverse events, or follow-up care requirements. [41209/26]

644. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether the HSE intends to establish a formal national reporting framework for the treatment abroad scheme including standardised activity, expenditure, and governance reporting. [41210/26]

645. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether the Comptroller and Auditor General audit of the treatment abroad scheme conducted in 2022 identified any governance, procedural, administrative, documentation, authorisation, oversight, compliance, or record-keeping observations, recommendations, or weaknesses, notwithstanding the statement that there were no findings regarding expenditure. [41211/26]

646. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether the 2022 Comptroller and Auditor General audit of the treatment abroad scheme examined specific procedure categories or referral pathways and, if so, to provide details of the categories examined. [41212/26]

647. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether the 2022 audit of the treatment abroad scheme included examination of prior authorisation processes, consistency of decision-making, regional variations, documentation standards, consultant referral verification, MDT governance procedures, and post-treatment outcome monitoring. [41213/26]

648. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether any internal HSE audit, compliance review, governance review, risk assessment, or assurance exercise relating to the treatment abroad scheme has been conducted since the 2022 Comptroller and Auditor General audit. [41214/26]

649. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether any recommendations, observations, action points, or governance improvements arose from the 2022 audit of the treatment abroad scheme; and, if so, whether all such actions have been implemented. [41215/26]

650. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether the HSE maintains a formal audit trail for all treatment abroad scheme approvals, including consultant recommendations, MDT documentation, authorisation decisions, expenditure approvals, and post-treatment verification documentation. [41216/26]

665. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health to identify the official, office, unit or governance structure with final responsibility for oversight of the treatment abroad scheme; and to set out the reporting line between that function, the HSE and their Department. [41234/26]

666. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether the treatment abroad scheme is subject to a formal written governance framework, programme charter, oversight protocol or internal control framework; if so, when it was approved and last reviewed. [41235/26]

667. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether the treatment abroad scheme appears on any HSE or Departmental risk register, internal audit plan or audit universe; and if so, under what risk category. [41236/26]

668. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether any annual governance review, assurance statement, compliance certification or similar review is completed in respect of the treatment abroad scheme. [41237/26]

669. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether any designated officer is responsible for ensuring value-for-money compliance, expenditure control and public financial governance in respect of the treatment abroad scheme. [41238/26]

670. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether any cumulative annual expenditure threshold under the treatment abroad scheme triggers enhanced review, senior management escalation or Departmental notification. [41239/26]

671. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether any per-patient expenditure threshold applies under the treatment abroad scheme and whether high-cost cases require separate financial approval distinct from clinical approval. [41240/26]

672. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether retrospective expenditure analysis is carried out to identify outlier costs, repeated high-cost providers, abnormal billing patterns or unusual procedure-level expenditure under the treatment abroad scheme. [41241/26]

673. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether any formal mechanism exists to benchmark the cost of procedures funded under the treatment abroad scheme against comparable costs in other EU or EEA jurisdictions. [41242/26]

674. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether any procurement, commissioning, preferred-provider or provider-assurance framework exists where overseas providers are used repeatedly under the treatment abroad scheme. [41243/26]

675. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether the HSE maintains structured follow-up data on clinical outcomes, complications, revision procedures, readmissions or adverse events arising after treatment abroad scheme-funded procedures. [41244/26]

676. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether patient-reported outcome measures are collected in respect of procedures funded under the treatment abroad scheme. [41245/26]

677. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether any mechanism exists to suspend, restrict, review or escalate referrals to an overseas provider where concerns arise regarding outcomes, standards, billing or patient safety. [41246/26]

678. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether the HSE maintains a central data set of treatment abroad scheme approvals including procedure type, jurisdiction, provider, cost, clinical indication, approval date and outcome data. [41247/26]