A private hospital in Northern Ireland has announced a major extension of its customer base in the Republic.
Healthcare services at Kingsbridge Private Hospital in Belfast are now available to members of Vhi, the largest health insurer in the Republic.
The announcement on Friday follows a £300m investment in Kingsbridge by the Dublin office of private equity firm Exponent last year.
Vhi customers could already use Kingsbridge Healthcare Group’s hospitals in Sligo and Londonderry.
The Belfast site includes access to Kingsbridge Diagnostics and Treatment Centre in the same location on Lisburn Road.
The Northern Ireland healthcare company said it had treated more than 60,000 patients from the Republic in the last three years.
It said it had reduced waiting list times under the Irish Health Service Executive’s (HSE) National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) and Northern Ireland Planned Healthcare Scheme, formerly known as the Cross-Border Healthcare Directive.
The firms said that the deal means Vhi members will have faster access to surgeries and medical consultations in Belfast, as well as improved post-surgical care for joint replacements.
They said services were within an hour’s drive for “hundreds of thousands” of Vhi members in NI.
They said that in most cases, surgical patients would be offered a consultation within a week and surgery within three weeks of making initial contact with Kingsbridge.
Mark Regan, Kingsbridge Healthcare Group CEO, said: “We strive to provide the highest standard of care promptly, efficiently and with the best interests of the patient at the heart of what we do. We pride ourselves on being able to bridge medicine and hospitality to enhance our patients’ experience.
“We are excited to work with Vhi, a dynamic provider of care and the largest health insurer on the island, and we believe this partnership will offer their members greater choice in accessing high quality healthcare on the Island of Ireland.”
Mark Byrne, Vhi’s director of healthcare partnerships said: “We are pleased to further extend our partnership with Kingsbridge Healthcare Group with the addition of Kingsbridge Private Hospital in Belfast .
“This collaboration will provide Vhi members living in the border region with greater access to high-quality medical services in a modern facility. We look forward to the benefits this partnership will bring to our members.”
Vhi provides private health insurance to over 1.2 million members in the Republic of Ireland.
In-patient procedures at Kingsbridge Belfast cover all the main specialties including orthopaedics, general surgery, ENT and gynaecology.
Diagnostics and scans are conducted on an out-patient basis.