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

Ms Morrison referred to the fact people are going away privately and getting assessments and it is costing a lot of money. Has there been any engagement with the Minister, the Department and the HSE? We are using the treatment purchase fund for hip replacements and all sorts of things. Why can we not use it for something like this? Is it not a way to expedite it? We were talking about the increased costs. The HSE would invite people offering the service to tender for the work. They would have to tender at a fixed price and we could deal with a lot of the backlog if we got people on board who are prepared to offer the service.