Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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828. To ask the Minister for Health the number of patients from Limerick who have been treated by the National Treatment Purchase Fund over the past two years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51891/22]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) works with public hospitals, as opposed to with patients directly, to offer and provide the funding for treatment to clinically suitable long waiting patients who are on an inpatient/day case waiting list for surgery, having been referred on to such a list following clinical assessment by a consultant/specialist at an outpatient clinic.

The key criteria of the NTPF is the prioritisation of the longest waiting patients first. While the NTPF identifies patients eligible for NTPF treatment, it is solely on the basis of their time spent on the Inpatient/Daycase Waiting List. The clinical suitability of the patient to avail of NTPF funded treatment is determined by the public hospital.

The NTPF has advised that, there were 20,498 NTPF funded patient episodes carried out for patients from the following public hospitals in Limerick: University Hospital Limerick, Croom Orthopaedic Hospital and St. Johns Hospital, for the period January 2021 to August 2022.The patient episodes covered Inpatient/Day Case, G.I. Scopes, Outpatients, Diagnostics and other supports.