Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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268. To ask the Minister for Health the criteria applied when assessing if treatment in public hospitals is eligible to be funded as insourcing by the NTPF; the way in which it is ensured that the hospitals that are in receipt of HSE funding are not being funded twice for doing the same work; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47656/17]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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269. To ask the Minister for Health the process by which public hospitals have been invited to apply for funding under the NTPF insourcing initiative; if a system of competitive tendering is used; the way in which value for money is ensured; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47657/17]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 268 and 269 together.

Reducing waiting times for the longest waiting patients is one of this Government's key priorities. Consequently, Budget 2017 allocated €20 million to the NTPF, rising to €55 million in 2018. Budget 2018 allocated additional funding in the region of €10m for the remainder of 2017 to fund patient treatment across a range of key specialties and procedures.

In order to reduce the numbers of long-waiting patients, during 2017 the HSE has been implementing its 2017 Inpatient/Daycase Waiting List Action Plan. Coupled with this, the NTPF has been delivering on Waiting List Initiatives involving outsourcing of treatment to private hospitals as well as insourcing of treatment to public hospitals with capacity.

A robust monitoring framework for the implementation of this Plan has been established. One of the aims of this reporting mechanism is to ensure that the NTPF principles and criteria for insourcing are adhered to, and, in particular, that any work funded through insourcing is additional to work funded through the National Service Plan and that the amount charged for procedures only reflects the additional costs incurred in providing the treatment.

A number of specific measures have been put in place to ensure that additional activity is being delivered under the Plan and that the NTPF criteria and principles are adhered to.These include the implementation of Service Level Agreements between the NTPF and individual public hospitals to support the treatment and management of patients. The HSE and the NTPF monitor and oversee these Service Level Agreements to take necessary steps if the SLAs are not being adhered to.

The HSE have also been monitoring closely Inpatient and Daycase normal elective work volumes by Hospital and focus on the reduction of longest waiters and ensure activity volumes remain in line with those agreed through the National Service Plan and the HSE inpatient/daycase Waiting List Action Plan.