Treatment Fund rejects costs comparison

IN his feature article (April 21), Dr David Moore incorrectly states that the cost of treating patients through the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) is “significantly greater” than the cost of treatment in the public hospital system.

For the record, throughout its work of arranging treatment for the longest waiting public patients, value for money is of primary importance to the NTPF.

It negotiates highly competitive prices with hospitals to ensure the best market rates available. If satisfactory prices cannot be agreed with a particular hospital, it is NTPF policy to source treatment elsewhere. It compares the prices it achieves against all other available data in the marketplace and is accountable to the Department of Health, to the Comptroller and Auditor General and ultimately to the taxpayer. Sweeping claims that the NTPF is more expensive than the public hospital system are without foundation.

In 2008, the NTPF’s budget was €100m, which equates to approximately 0.7% of the entire public health spend. From this budget, the NTPF arranged treatment for 36,269 public patients. Each surgery arranged covered full episodes of care, including pre- and post-operative consultations, hospital costs and any follow-up care required.

The NTPF is a proven, successful targeted solution to tackling the waiting lists problem. In 2002, when it was established, average hospital waiting times were between two and five years. Through our work in co-operation with the hospitals, average hospital waiting times have been reduced significantly and are now two to five months. The median waiting time for any procedure in the public hospital system is now three months.

To date, the ITPF has arranged faster treatment for more than 140,000 publicpatients, many of whom would still be waiting if the Fund option was not available.

Pat O’Byrne

Chief Executive

National Treatment Purchase Fund

Ashford House

Tara Street

Dublin 2