I propose to take Questions Nos. 165, 167, 171 and 173 together.
Responsibility for the collection and reporting of waiting lists and waiting times now falls within the remit of the national treatment purchase fund, NTPF. My Department has, therefore, asked the chief executive of the NTPF to respond directly to the Deputy on the number of patients awaiting treatment for ophthalmology procedures. The NTPF has the capacity to treat more than 1,000 patients per month or 12,000 in a full year from the funding available to it. Since it commenced operations the fund has been successful in locating additional capacity, both here and in the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland and arranging treatments for over 19,000 patients up to the end of September 2004. The majority of these patients have been treated in hospitals in Ireland. It is now the case that, in most instances, anyone waiting more than three months will be facilitated by the fund. The cost of the national treatment purchase fund to date is as follows:
Year
|
€m
|
|
2002
|
5.012
|
|
2003
|
30.057
|
Provisional Outturn
|
2004
|
44.00
|
Allocation
|
It is a feature of all acute hospital systems that some beds are out of use for short periods. Bed closures fluctuate over time and may arise for a variety of reasons such as ward refurbishment, essential ward maintenance, staff leave, seasonal closures and infection control measures.