Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 7 April 2004
152 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Health and Children the costs to date of the treatment purchase scheme; the number of patients treated; the way in which this compares with the cost involved in conventional patient treatment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11072/04]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe cost of the national treatment purchase fund to date is as follows:
|
€m |
||
|
2002 |
5.012 |
|
|
2003 |
30.057 |
Provisional Outturn |
|
2004 |
44.00 |
Allocation |
The NTPF purchases procedures from private and public hospitals in Ireland. Where it is not possible to treat patients within a reasonable period in Ireland, either in public or private hospitals, arrangements can be made to refer the public patients for treatment abroad, having regard to quality, availability and cost. If patients are prepared to exercise choice by travelling to where there is capacity, they can be treated a lot quicker in many instances. To date the fund has arranged treatments for over 12,000 patients.
The majority of procedures funded by the NTPF to date have been carried out in private hospitals in Ireland. With regard 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 managers that the prices negotiated by the NTPF compare favourably with the comparative benchmarks available for the costs of the vast majority of procedures.
