Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Question 146: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the position in relation to a person (details supplied) in County Wicklow who is waiting for a hip replacement; if they will have the procedure as a matter of urgency; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17275/08]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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The primary remit of the National Treatment Purchase Fund is to facilitate patients who are longest on waiting lists for surgery.

The scheduling of admissions is a matter for the relevant Consultant and is determined on the basis of medical priority and having regard to available capacity. The question of the treatment appropriate to the circumstances of each individual patient is a matter of clinical responsibility over which I have no control.

In the event that the treatment is not readily available and should the medical condition of the person in question disimprove, their General Practitioner would be in the best position to emphasise the urgency of her case to the Consultant directly.

My Department has asked the Chief Executive of the Fund to reply directly to the Deputy in relation to the matter raised.