More than 5,600 of Mayo’s longest waiting public patients have now benefited from faster treatment through the work of the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF ). According to the latest figures released by the fund, to end of March, a total of 169,479 public patients throughout the country have now had their treatment arranged. There has also been significant progress in reducing the waiting times of public patients awaiting surgery in Mayo and elsewhere throughout the country.
“The fund was established to reduce the length of time that public patients wait for operations and 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,” said National Treatment Purchase Fund chief executive Pat O’Byrne.
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 those patients by arranging operations in private hospitals in Ireland. Treatment is free under this initiative. In the early years of the NTPF, it was necessary to send some patients abroad in order to arrange faster treatment but at this stage all patients are treated in Ireland.
Mayo public patients have had operations arranged across a wide range of specialities and procedures. Treatments arranged include the treatment of cataracts, hip and knee replacement, heart surgery, removal of tonsils, prostate and gall bladder surgery, hernia repairs, colonoscopies, and varicose vein surgery.
