Treatment Fund reduced surgical waiting times

I REFER to the article by Shaun Connolly (Irish Examiner, October 28) headlined “€143m NTPF branded as ‘daft’ waste of money,” which purportedly reports on the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) meeting.

The article carries various comments made by the committee, but fails to include any factual information put forward by the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) to the committee, including the following:

“That the NTPF operates within a small budget (0.5% of the entire health budget) and performs an effective, value-for-money role within the public health system. Its work has reduced waiting times for surgery for thousands of patients throughout the country. The position now is that, in most cases, patients waiting more than three months for a surgical procedure will be facilitated by the Fund.”