{"id":958,"date":"2025-08-15T23:45:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-15T23:45:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/958\/"},"modified":"2025-08-15T23:45:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T23:45:11","slug":"new-train-service-helping-tipperary-patients-skip-waiting-lists-for-surgery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/958\/","title":{"rendered":"New train service helping Tipperary patients skip waiting lists for surgery"},"content":{"rendered":"

Independent councillor John O\u2019Heney has announced the launch of the Sightsaver Train, following on from his successful Sightsaver Bus project.<\/p>\n

Cllr O\u2019Heney established the Sightsaver Bus in 2023 to bring people from Tipperary to Kingsbridge Hospital in Belfast for surgery for cataracts, knee and hip replacements, and more.<\/p>\n

Now, the local councillor has set up the Sightsaver Train for people who can\u2019t or would prefer not to use a bus.<\/p>\n

“Anyone that\u2019s not able or willing to travel on the bus can avail of the train from Limerick Junction train station, or other stops around the county, particularly Thurles or Clonmel,\u201d Cllr O\u2019Heney explained.<\/p>\n

Through the Cross Border Directive, people from the Republic of Ireland who are waiting on medical treatments can choose to have them elsewhere in the European Union.<\/p>\n

Under the Directive, people will be repaid the cost of what it would have been to have surgery in an Irish public hospital, or the cost of their treatment elsewhere, whatever is less.<\/p>\n

A number of patients from across county Tipperary have made use of the train this week, Cllr O\u2019Heney said.<\/p>\n

Follow Independent Tipperary on Facebook<\/a> <\/p>\n

“Many people have availed of the train for ankle consultations, hip consultations and cataract treatments, so please reach out to me if you ever need any assistance in relation to healthcare treatments.<\/p>\n

“Don\u2019t be stuck on a waiting list, reach out to me, and you\u2019ll get set to Belfast straight away,\u201d the independent councillor added.<\/p>\n

People can also travel themselves to the hospital in Belfast if they wish.<\/p>\n

As part of the Sightsaver Bus and Train, Cllr O\u2019Heney said that he will organise people\u2019s travel arrangements, their stays in a four star hotel, with a discounted rate, and organise transfers to and from the hotel to the hospital.<\/p>\n

The Sightsaver Bus has been running since 2023, and has made a number of trips to Belfast in that time.<\/p>\n

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Schem<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Independent councillor John O\u2019Heney has announced the launch of the Sightsaver Train, following on from his successful Sightsaver…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":959,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[275],"tags":[18,135,475,474,19,17,1272],"class_list":{"0":"post-958","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-health-care","11":"tag-healthcare","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-katie-odonovan"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/958\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}