Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Independent)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 15 and 17 together.

Since its establishment in 2002, the National Treatment Purchase Fund has provided over 200,000 public patients with inpatient treatment, diagnostic procedures and outpatient appointments. The median waiting time for medical and surgical patients is now 2.6 months. This is a very significant reduction from an average of between two and five years when the fund was established in 2002. The cumulative amount allocated to the fund from 2002 to 2010 is almost €598 million. Of this amount, €30.7 million has been allocated to costs related to administration of the fund. This is approximately 5% of the NTPF's total funding in that period.

In 2009, the NTPF facilitated almost 29,000 patients - 20,000 for elective surgery, 2,500 MRIs and 6,400 outpatient appointment - at a cost of €90 million, including administrative costs of €4 million. The fund's allocation for 2010 is €90.092 million. The activity targets agreed involve facilitating 31,000 patients, consisting of 20,000 inpatients, providing 3,000 MRIs and 8,000 outpatient appointments. The NTPF anticipates meeting these targets. I have emphasised to the fund the need for maximum cost-effectiveness, consistent with safe and effective care. I have asked it to seek even better value from private hospitals and the fund has successfully negotiated price reductions for certain high-volume procedures. In addition, it will not purchase services where the price is not acceptable.

The NTPF is responsible for the collation and reporting of national waiting list data and patients are placed on the national list only after they have been waiting three months. This is because many people receive their treatment within three months and, in some cases, with little or no waiting. It is not appropriate to classify these patients as "awaiting treatment" in the same way as those who have been waiting for several months. It is not, therefore, correct to conclude that there are over 46,000 patients on waiting lists.

The most recent figures relate to September 2010 and indicate that the number of patients waiting for over three months was 19,865. I would emphasise that it is more relevant to measure waiting times rather than the numbers of patients involved and, as I have already indicated, significant progress has been made in recent years in reducing average waiting times. There remains a relatively small number of patients who have been waiting for longer than 12 months for treatment and I have emphasised to both the HSE and the NTPF that they must continue to work together to ensure that these patients are afforded treatment without further delay. The detailed data on individual hospitals requested by the Deputy will be circulated in the Official Report.

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