Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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To ask the Minister for Health the options available to patients who previously would have been able to access treatment under the national treatment purchase fund; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47377/12]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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The target for 2012, as set in the Health Service Executive (HSE) Service Plan 2012, is that no adult shall be waiting more than 9 months for an elective procedure. At the start of 2012 there were a total of 53,513 people who had to be treated by the 30 September 2012 to ensure that nobody was waiting more than 9 months for surgery. As of the 30 September 2012, 51,637 (96%) had been treated.

Should any patient's general practitioner consider that the patient's condition warrants an earlier appointment, he/she would be in the best position to take the matter up with the consultant and hospital involved.