Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I may have misspoken in my previous reply. Patients requiring review were reinstated on the public waiting list to have them scheduled in chronological order. All paediatric patients concerned have received their treatment.

What happened is that about 2,700 patients were outsourced, in effect. They were sent for private treatment. Many were discharged back to their GP. Others required further follow-up and were put back on the public waiting list into the position they would have been in. They were not disadvantaged in any way by having their case outsourced. It is not a satisfactory situation that if somebody is outsourced and sent for private treatment, they should stay in that until their treatment is completed. That did not happen in this case. They were sent out privately for their outpatient and then put back on the public waiting list, although they were not disadvantaged in any way. They did not lose their position on the waiting list.

Regarding the Deputy's question on follow-up funding, I do not have it. If I did have it, I would provide it but at this stage I do not have it. I can say, however, that nobody has been disadvantaged by the fact that their cases were outsourced or sent privately for treatment. Anybody who has gone back on the public waiting list has gone back on in the position, in chronological order, they would have been in had they not been sent privately.

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