Greater efforts could be made to cut waiting times of over 12 months at five hospitals across the country, according to the Chief Executive of the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF).
CEO Pat O’Byrne said the Fund was still experiencing difficulties with regard to Tallaght, Tullamore, Crumlin, Temple Street and Limerick Regional hospitals. “If a hospital can treat patients waiting fewer than 12 months, why can they not treat a handful of patients waiting more than 12 months? If patients are deemed to only be treatable in-house, why cannot these hospitals do this? The solution is a two-way process,” O’Byrne said at the recent launch of the NTPF’s 2009 Annual Report.
Approximately 6 per cent of the NTPF’s work was performed in public hospitals last year — a figure on which the CEO would like to see ‘more progress made’. Some progress had been achieved at Crumlin and Temple Street hospitals, where many more ‘slots’ for children have been provided.
“I would like to see the slots used. But the issues are wider than quotas,” he added.
The measures put in place by the three children’s hospitals, together with Cappagh, were ‘more than capable of dealing with the scoliosis issue, for instance’, O’Byrne added.
On average, waiting times across the country have been reduced to 2.5 months, he claimed. “Two years ago, there were over 4,000 patients waiting over 12 months. Three years ago the figure was 6,000 patients. Today the figure is 611,” he added.
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