Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The funding provision for the National Treatment Purchase Fund remains unchanged, having been reduced significantly in recent years as a result of the transfer of funds from the NTPF to the special delivery unit. The task of the special delivery unit was to address the issue of emergency department overcrowding, seamless movement of patients through hospitals, step-down facilities, home care services and all that went with them in a manner that would ensure hospitals would deal with patients effectively and efficiently. The Minister has indicated that the National Treatment Purchase Fund is not the ideal way to address waiting lists. That statement is incorrect in cases in which a theatre in a public hospital cannot be used because of staff and consultant shortages and patients are transferred to the private sector. Where there is insufficient capacity in key areas in the public system, the private sector will clearly have a role to play in moving people off the public waiting list. We should not have ideological hang-ups about this practice. Patients want to be treated in a timely, efficient and effective manner.

Duplication is a clear waste of public funds and should not be condoned.

Where there are huge deficiencies in the capacity of the public hospital system to deliver - that is, not enough consultants, medical staff or front-line staff, or just not enough theatres, wards or beds - the private sector would have a role. Otherwise, there would be an increase in the number of people waiting for treatment. I note that the amount is the same as last year. While the Minister said he might envisage revisiting the use of the National Treatment Purchase Fund, it is evident from the Estimates that there is no intention to increase the capacity of the fund. That is an observation, not a criticism, of the Minister. We will try to park it.

With regard to other services - specifically, compensation payments to a reparation fund established under section 11 of the Hepatitis C Compensation Tribunal Act 1997 and the Hepatitis C Compensation Tribunal (Amendment) Act 2002 - there is a small cohort of women who obtained false positives and who are campaigning to be included in the compensation recompense but also for access to the medical card awarded to persons under this scheme. Has any progress been made in this area, in view of the fact that we have met these women? They have made a case to the Minister and, I assume, to the Department and the HSE. These people were infected but at the time were showing a false positive. Are there any discussions in progress in the Department, given that the amount of funding for this year is the same as last year?