In its service plan for 2005 the national treatment purchase fund set a target of having treatment arranged for 16,000 patients. Up to the end of September a total of 12,000 patients were treated. Under the fund more than 35,000 patients have been treated to date and waiting times have been significantly reduced.
The majority of these patients have had their treatment provided in private hospitals in Ireland. The NTPF is working closely with private hospitals to identify and locate the necessary capacity to have patients treated while at the same time managing the number of treatments being provided in order to reach its target for 2005. My Department has been informed by the NTPF that patients have not been denied access to treatment in private hospitals. There is no reason any patient should have been turned away. All surgery planned to the end of the year is set to go ahead.
With regard to the transport of patients, I remind the Deputy that the policy of the NTPF is to provide transport for patients where it is deemed medically necessary or where there are people with special needs, for example the elderly or the infirm. In the case to which the Deputy refers, the procedure involved was not minor eye surgery as it required the patient to have a general anaesthetic and to stay overnight in hospital. Transport was decided having regard to patient safety and best medical practice. There was no taxi fare of €600.
In general, the number of patients that require transport is small and the cost of taxis to the NTPF last year was under €4 per patient treated. In the case of a patient going abroad for treatment the travel costs are paid for by the fund. The authorisation of transport is considered on an individual basis, particularly in circumstances where lack of transport would present a barrier to a patient being treated. Otherwise patients are responsible for their own transport.
In the context of his examination of my Department's Appropriation Account for 2004, the Comptroller and Auditor General carried out a review of the operation of the NTPF in 2004. During his review the Comptroller and Auditor General received the full and comprehensive co-operation of the fund. The responses from the fund and my Department to the issues raised in the Comptroller and Auditor General's report have been fully recorded in the text of the report. As a statutory body funded by the Exchequer, the annual accounts of the national treatment purchase fund will be audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General.
Additional information not given on the floor of the House.
The fund's accounts for 2004 are currently being audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General. It is a matter for him to decide which State organisations or State funded programmes are to be the subject of value-for-money audits.
The fund will continue to arrange treatment for patients and the immediate priority for it in 2006 will be to ensure the fullest co-operation from individual hospitals and consultants in dealing with patients waiting longest for surgery. The Health Service Executive has been asked to ensure that this co-operation continues so that those patients waiting for treatment can be facilitated by the fund.