More than 19,000 of Galway’s longest waiting public patients have benefited from faster treatment through the work of the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF ), a Government initiative designed to cut hospital waiting lists by offering public patients treatment in private hospitals.
Treatments included hip and knee replacement, cataracts, heart surgery, removal of tonsils, prostate and gall bladder surgery, hernia repairs, colonoscopies and varicose vein surgery.
A total of 169,479 public patients throughout the country have had their treatment arranged, according to the latest figures released by the fund.
There has also been significant progress in reducing the waiting times of public patients awaiting surgery in Galway and elsewhere throughout the country.
“The fund was established to reduce the length of time that public patients wait for operations,” says National Treatment Purchase Fund chief executive, Pat O’Byrne. “We have had considerable impact here with patients now waiting on average 2.8 months for their operations.
“This compares to waiting times of between two and five years in 2002. Many of the patients we have facilitated had been waiting an unacceptable time for their treatment and could still be waiting if they did not opt for faster treatment through the fund.”
Established in 2002, the NTPF is a service for public patients who have been waiting longest for surgery in the public hospital system. It facilitates patients by arranging operations in private hospitals in Ireland. Treatment is free.
In the early years of the NTPF, it was necessary to send some patients abroad in order to arrange faster treatment but now all patients are treated in Ireland.
