Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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Question 213: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if there are changes in the qualifying conditions relating to the National Treatment Purchase Fund; if it is still the case that when a person is three months on a public hospital waiting list that he or she can then avail of the NTPF; if there are cut backs proposed for this scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16514/08]

Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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Question 221: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the average waiting time for patients accepted for treatment on the National Treatment Purchase Fund; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16614/08]

Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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Question 222: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if it is the case that private individuals may make a direct application to the National Treatment Purchase Fund when they have been waiting for three months for a medical procedure on a public hospital waiting list; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16615/08]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 213, 221 and 222 together.

The National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) was established to treat patients who are longest waiting on public hospital waiting lists. In February this year, the NTPF marked the milestone of having treated over 100,000 people since 2002. These comprised 77,000 in-patients and 23,000 out-patients.

Access to treatment under the auspices of the NTPF is open to patients who are waiting more than three months on a surgical waiting list and who may qualify for treatment through it. In general, non-surgical treatment does not qualify for consideration under the Fund. It is open to the patient, or anyone acting on his/her behalf, to contact the Fund directly in relation to each case. The NTPF operate a nationwide lo-call line for this purpose. A person may also be referred to the Fund through the NTPF Liaison Officer attached to the hospital. In common with other publicly funded bodies, the Fund is required to manage within the financial allocation it receives each year.

The NTPF has made significant inroads into lowering waiting times for hospital treatment. For the most common procedures, the median waiting time is now down to 2 to 4 months for adults and 2 to 5 months for children. The overall median wait time for all specialties is 3.5 months.