Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 126: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the amount spent on the National Treatment Purchase Fund since its establishment; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27080/10]

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 127: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the proportion of the patients of private for profit hospitals who are National Treatment Purchase Fund patients; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27081/10]

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 130: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the number of inpatient, day case and out patient department appointments the National Treatment Purchase Fund intends to deal with in 2010. [27110/10]

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 131: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the number of adult and child cases the National Treatment Purchase Fund expects to deal with in 2010. [27111/10]

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 132: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the quota of patients each hospital can refer to the National Treatment Purchase Fund, and the way in which each quota is arrived at. [27112/10]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Independent)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 126, 127 and 130 to 132, inclusive, together.

Since the establishment of the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) in 2002, it has received funding totalling €597.782m for the treatment, to date, of over 170,000 patients. A table setting out the NTPF's annual allocation since its establishment is attached. In each year to date, 95% to 96% of NTPF funding has been spent directly on patient care. The balance covers the administration of the organisation, 2% to 2.5% of this being for salaries of staff. The Comptroller and Auditor General's Report for 2008 examined the NTPF's arrangements for the procurement of treatment. The Report concluded "The examination suggests that, relative to the casemix benchmark, procedures purchased from private hospitals by the NTPF generally cost less than those carried out in the publicly funded hospital system".

The NTPF's service plan for 2010 provides for 20,000 inpatient treatments (consisting of both inpatient and day case procedures) and 8,000 first-time outpatient appointments. Where clinically appropriate, treatments are increasingly carried out on a day basis. The ratio as between adult and child cases is dependent upon how many paediatric cases are referred to or apply to the NTPF in any given year. The Fund estimates that paediatric cases will account for 10% to 15% of activity in 2010.

The number of referrals from individual hospitals each year is determined by the NTPF, having regard to a range of factors. These include the resources available to the Fund, the numbers and locations of persons waiting longest for treatment, the volumes of patient self-referrals and GP referrals received, overall casemix and the incidence of cases where high costs are incurred. The approach is refined throughout the year to ensure that the maximum number of people gain access to faster treatment within available resources. If any hospital or region does not use all available treatment slots, these are re-allocated.

My Department has no role in relation to the operation of private hospitals and does not collect activity data for this sector. Therefore I am not in a position to provide information on the proportion of private hospitals' activity accounted for by NTPF patients.