189 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Health and Children the spending from the patient treatment fund in 2002 and to date in 2003; the number of patients treated; the number of procedures carried out; the cost of different treatments; and the way in which the total costs for a procedure including travel, in-patient accommodation and all medical costs compare with the VHI allowance for similar procedures and in-patient care. [16111/03]
The expenditure outturn for 2002 in respect of the national treatment purchase fund, NTPF, as published in the Revised Estimates Volume 2003, was €5.012 million. My Department has been informed by the chief executive of the NTPF that up to the end of May 2003, it had incurred liabilities totalling approximately €10 million for the current year. It is anticipated that the fund will utilise its full allocation of €30.885 million in the current year.
A total of 1,920 patients were treated under the NTPF in 2002, with a further 2,550 being treated in 2003, bringing the total number treated to end-May to 4,470. To date, the vast majority of procedures funded by the NTPF have been carried out in private hospitals in Ireland. In relation to the cost of these procedures, the NTPF has informed my Department that it has not released individual procedure prices paid for reasons of commercial sensitivity. However, my Department has been assured by the fund that the prices negotiated by the NTPF compare favourably with the prices charged to private health insurers.
