Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

Additional expenditure for the HSE this year amounts to €1.2 billion. Its allocation for this year is €15 billion, 25% higher than it was two years ago. I am sure the Deputy will accept that all my colleagues who administer Departments and agencies under their aegis must comply with the expenditure position. It is in addition to a €1.2 billion increase in funding that at the end of August, the HSE was over budget by €222 million. The HSE predicted it would over-spend by between €300 million and €350 million this year if it did not take corrective measures. I do not believe the Deputy is advocating an over-spend as it was a Government to which his colleagues were party that introduced the measures that stipulated that health boards should live within their budgets, and that was at a time when budgets were much less than they are today. Budgets have quadrupled in less than ten years. The HSE, like every other organisation, must adhere as close as possible to, hopefully within, the high allocation it receives through the budget.

On the other issue, I do not know whether the figures are official. I received a briefing on this and I am not clear from where those figures came. They do not appear to have come from the HSE or from the Department and for that reason, I cannot say whether they are right. On the general position, one million patients are being seen at a rate of 100,000 per month. The figures available today suggest there are 41,000 people on hospital waiting lists. The National Treatment Purchase Fund is doing a superb job. Persons on a waiting list for more than three months are asked to contact the NTPF.

As I mentioned in the House previously, some hospitals do not refer patients to the NTPF. I do not know if some of the hospitals mentioned in the report are among them. Total acute hospital discharges are up by 315,000 to 1.083 million, a 41% increase. Apart from the work undertaken by the National Treatment Purchase Fund, the HSE has, despite the many challenges and difficulties it is facing, dramatically increased the number of patients treated. Even if there are 41,000 people on the waiting list — I am not disputing this as I do not know whether that figure is correct — this is only a small percentage of the turnover.

I take this opportunity to state that anyone on a waiting list for more than 12 months and those who come within the three months' category should contact the National Treatment Purchase Fund.

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