Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 14 December 2017
402. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Health if he will report on the allocation of the €15 million in 2017 to fund the National Treatment Purchase Fund to urgently address waiting lists for those persons waiting longest; the amount of this funding that has now been spent; and the number of persons that will receive scheduled treatment as a result of this expenditure. [53853/17]
View answerI acknowledge that waiting times are often unacceptably long and I am conscious of the burden that this places on patients and their families.
Reducing waiting times for the longest waiting patients is one of this Government's key priorities. Consequently, Budget 2017 allocated €20 million to the NTPF with €15 million of this allocation set aside for the treatment of those patients waiting longest for inpatient and daycase procedures.
In order to reduce the numbers of long-waiting patients, the HSE developed Waiting List Action Plans for 2017 in the areas of Inpatient/Daycase, Scoliosis and Outpatient Services. The Inpatient/Daycase Action Plan was delivered through a combination of normal hospital activity, as well as insourcing and outsourcing initiatives utilising NTPF funding.
The NTPF has advised that to date under their initiatives over 18,400 patients have been authorised for treatment, over 8,800 patients have accepted an offer of treatment and that over 4,700 patients have received their procedure. Patient treatment under these initiatives will continue until year end.
