NTPF wait: Hospitals must answer

THE Health Service Executive should investigate why public hospitals are refusing to refer patients awaiting surgery to the National Treatment Purchase Fund.

The Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee (PAC) was told on Thursday that more than 2,000 patients are waiting for over a year for surgery. Several hundred more are waiting up to two years.

The fund was created in 2002 by then minister for health Micheál Martin to address public hospital waiting lists. Patients waiting more than three months for an operation or procedure can apply to have the fund pay for treatment privately in Ireland or abroad.