Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 17 May 2018
167. Deputy John Brassil asked the Minister for Health the reason there is no National Treatment Purchase Fund, NTPF, programme in place for ophthalmology service at Cork University Hospital; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21763/18]
View answerImproving waiting times for hospital procedures is a key commitment in the Programme for Government and in 2018 €50 million was allocated to the NTPF to provide treatment for patients.
The recently launched Inpatient/Day Case Action Plan outlines the combined impact of HSE and National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) activity in 2018. The Action Plan places a particular focus on cataract surgery and includes a commitment that the NTPF will provide 5,000 cataract procedures to patients. In addition, the NTPF commits to offer treatment to all clinically suitable patients waiting more than 9 months for a cataract procedure.
Cork University Hospital (CUH) advise that patients requiring Inpatient/Daycase ophthalmology treatment are referred to South Infirmary Hospital Cork and held on their waiting list. The active Inpatient / Daycase waiting list for South Infirmary Hospital Cork shows that at the end of April 2018 there were 929 patients on the ophthalmology waiting list and of these, 86% of patients are waiting 8 months or less.
The NTPF will deliver 20,000 Inpatient Day Case treatments across a range of specialties through both outsourcing and HSE insourcing. I would encourage individual hospitals to engage with the NTPF to identify potential outsourcing and insourcing initiatives to be put in place over the course of the year.
