Mr. Paul Bolger:

To date, 2,400 patients have been treated through insourcing initiatives and 5,260 through outsourcing initiatives. A number of patients were offered treatment in December 2017 and treated in January 2018. We try to keep the window between the offer being accepted and the treatment happening as narrow as possible.

We have responded to questions on value for money via parliamentary questions. A competitive process is in place under which the NTPF goes out to tender for treatment. They have to take into account the treatment required and the location of the patient. Different tenders are in place with different people around the country and this ensures the NTPF gets the best price. The fund reports to the board, its accounts are subject to audit and it appears before the Committee of Public Accounts. No specific value for money review has been done of the fund's initiatives but there are controls which ensure they get value for money. The controls ensure everything is competitive with open tenders for all processes.