More than 3,300 people given funding to travel abroad for physiotherapy

Valerie McArdle, a political advocacy specialist with Acquired Brain Injuries Ireland, said gaps in care affect a broad range of patients. File picture 

More than 3,300 people received funding to travel abroad for physiotherapy last year as waiting times for rehabilitation stretched into months, recent HSE figures show.

It comes as Acquired Brain Injuries Ireland warns that patients face “significant barriers” to getting neuro-rehabilitation in the community as well as delays for beds at the national rehabilitation hospital.

The Cross Border Directive is an EU scheme that allows people to have the cost of healthcare received abroad reimbursed by the State.

Physiotherapy was the speciality most applied for last year from Ireland, the HSE Cross Border Directive team said. It said 3,334 people applied for physiotherapy as an outpatient last year. 

This is far higher than the next most commonly requested outpatient ask at 670 applications for orthopaedic supports.

Five people applied specifically for neuro-rehabilitation supports. Details of this are not provided but it could be required by stroke victims or people with a spinal cord injury after a traffic collision.

Valerie McArdle, a political advocacy specialist with Acquired Brain Injuries Ireland, said gaps in care affect a broad range of patients.

“Brain injury survivors across Ireland are not only having difficulty accessing highly specialist care at the National Rehabilitation Hospital but they are also facing significant barriers to accessing community neurorehabilitation services,” she said.

This is leaving people without support at a critical time, said Ms McArdle. “Each year, approximately 19,000 people in Ireland sustain a brain injury, yet only around 400 individuals currently have access to a specialist brain injury case manager,” she said.

lack of appropriate services

“This has created a 'postcode lottery', where access to support depends largely on where a person lives. This unequal access is widening inequalities in outcomes for people with acquired brain injury.” 

Ms McArdle said that in some cases younger people are being placed in nursing homes due to a shortage of appropriate accommodation. 

She contrasted this with the improvements seen among those supported by Acquired Brain Injuries Ireland, noting that more than 60% of its clients who had been living in nursing homes were able to move to more suitable settings. 

She argued that increased funding could allow many more people to do the same.

“We are calling on the Government to allocate €2.3m in Budget 2027 to establish a nationwide brain injury case management service that will reach every person with a brain injury, regardless of location,” said Ms McArdle.

Describing this as a “modest investment", she said it would transform people’s lives and give them the chance to “rebuild their lives in their own communities”.

Last week the Irish Association of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine warned that thousands of people involved in road collisions wait up to five months for some specialist care at the national rehabilitation hospital.