Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

One of the problems we are all coming across is the length of time people are on the waiting list. By the time they require treatment, in fact, the degree of treatment they require has greatly increased.

Can we look at the system with a view to taking people off the waiting list at an earlier stage and getting them referred out? There seems to be a policy that we will not even dare talk about the National Treatment Purchase Fund until such time as the patient has been on the list for certain period. I know that some hospitals will not even consider referring patients out unless they are on the list for at least 18 months. That adds to the patients' problems, because they need a greater degree of care, are going back and forth to the GP on a regular basis, and are constantly on to the HSE asking when they will be dealt with. I am wondering if there is a need to review this process of getting people in under the NTPF, knowing full well that they are not going to be reached on the public waiting list for at least three to four years.