Health Minister Simon Harris in need of new ideas to tackle old problems

Plenty of acronyms, but very few answers — listening to Health Minister Simon Harris on Morning Ireland yesterday it was difficult to see how any of what he is proposing differs from anything we have heard before.

Once again the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF), invented by Fianna Fáil, is being hailed as the short-term cure to our health-service ills. Subservient for a while to a subsequent Fine Gael creation known as the special delivery unit, the NTPF has been restored to its rightful place as the best method of reducing hospital waiting lists. Or so the story goes.

In reality, the NTPF is a goldmine for those hospital consultants whose contracts allows them to work in both a public and private capacity and who, often through no fault of their own, cannot treat their patients in public hospitals because of rolling theatre closures, staff shortages, and bed closures.