Health boards urged to justify waiting list fund

HEALTH boards should be forced to give an estimate of the number of patients they will treat this year to justify the €31 million of taxpayers’ money they were given to tackle waiting lists, the Irish Patients Association said yesterday.

The call follows the revelation that health boards do not have to give details to the Department of Health on how many patients they plan to treat. In contrast, the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) which got a budget of €44m this year has set a target of 12,000 patients to treat abroad this year.

The Irish Patients Association (IPA) believe health boards, like the NTPF, should be forced to spell out how many patients they will treat for the Exchequer funding they get to tackle waiting lists. “The NTPF are totally transparent in the numbers they plan to treat with the Government funding. The same transparent rules should apply to health boards for a spend of €31m,” said Irish Patients Association chairman Stephen McMahon.