Waiting times for public patients are shortest ever

AVERAGE treatment waiting times for public patients have fallen to their shortest level ever at less than three months.

The National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF), which arranges treatment for public patients in private hospitals, pointed out that waiting times were between two and five years when it was established in 2002.

The latest annual report from the NTPF shows the fall in the national average waiting time resulted from faster treatment arranged for 36,269 patients in 2008, up 11% on 2007.