The National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) is currently working with the HSE Special Delivery Unit to achieve a reduction in wait times for in-patients, day cases and outpatients. The NTPF is also responsible for the collection, collation and reporting of both in-patient and outpatient waiting lists and is responsible for the pricing of nursing home beds in approximately 430 Nursing Homes in Ireland annually. The NTPF budgets for the past three years are set out in the table below. These funds have been spent on administrative costs, salaries and targeted patient care initiatives to reduce waiting times.
Table 1: NTPF Budgets 2012-2014
Year
|
ALLOCATION (€m)
|
ACTUAL SPEND (€m)
|
2014
|
5.1
|
5.1
|
2013
|
17.387*
|
17.387
|
2012
|
70.587
|
40.587
|
*Includes a virement of €3.4 million