Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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857. To ask the Minister for Health in relation to treatments paid for under the national treatment purchase fund where an individual received care in a private setting, if an agreed hourly rate is paid to clinicians agreed centrally, or agreed regionally or by provider; and to outline these for different types of treatment - surgical, exploratory and so on - since its inception. [32384/25]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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This Government remains committed to increasing capacity in the public system and until that capacity is in place to meet the increased levels of demand, it’s appropriate that we make use of additional capacity in the public and private systems to ensure that patients have access to the care they need.

Accordingly, the Waiting List Action Plan approach includes targeting the delivery of additional capacity for patients in both public and private hospitals, through a coordinated approach by the HSE and the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF).

NTPF Insourcing initiatives are governed by a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the NTPF and the relevant public hospital. Under the MOU, the public hospital confirms that any such work is additional work over and above core hospital activity and is specifically carried out to reduce waiting lists. All governance for insourcing remains with the public hospital, based on specific treatment plans where a need is identified and a solution available. All work is approved at the appropriate senior level.

The NTPF also sources treatment and appointments for patients through outsourcing arrangements with Private Hospitals. This is done through a Panel Agreement established following a competitive tender competition. As with insourcing initiatives, while the NTPF identifies patients eligible for treatment, the clinical suitability is determined by the public hospital. The payment to the private hospital is based on a tendered price for the relevant procedure, and all payments to Consultants are a matter for the Private Hospitals.

The NTPF does not engage directly with, employ, or make payments to individual consultants.