National Treatment Purchase Fund welcomes €75m Budget 2019 allocation

In 2019, the Fund will arrange treatment for 25,000 patients on the active Inpatient / Daycase (IPDC) waiting list, 5,000 Gastrointestinal Endoscopies and 40,000 first-time outpatient consultant appointments.

Welcoming the allocation, NTPF Chief Executive Officer Liam Sloyan said: “Real progress has been made for public patients waiting for surgery over the past 14 months, with the numbers on the active inpatient / daycase waiting list for elective surgery falling by 14 per cent. Together, the NTPF, HSE and Department of Health have delivered tangible results. The NTPF welcomes its budget allocation for 2019 and plans to use it efficiently and effectively to build on its work to date for public patients.”

Speaking on the announcement of Budget 2019, Chairman of the Private Hospitals Association, Mr Michael Cullen said: “While acknowledging a €20 million increase,  the Government has again ducked the opportunity to make a substantial impact on Hospital waiting lists by failing to commit to a multi annual funding mechanism for the National Treatment Purchase Fund.” <br /> <br />“In addition a substantial element of NTPF funding is today simply going back into the public system in the form of in-sourcing activity which in turn is shoring up the financial deficits that exist within our public hospital system nationally.”<br /> <br />“This is all a far cry from the NTPF budgets of the past and it reinforces the reluctance of government to draw on in any meaningful way the substantial capacity the private hospital sector has across Ireland, to resolve the endemic problem of patient waiting lists in this country.”