| National fund under fire over waiting list |
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| Wednesday, 13 August 2008 | |
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The National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) has come under fire after it was revealed that patients at Tallaght Hospital are waiting nine months longer for operations under the scheme than those at other Irish hospitals. The fund buys private operations for patients on public hospital waiting lists. In 2001 it pledged that patients would not wait any longer than three months for surgery by 2004. The NTPF's report for last year showed how patients at many hospitals were being treated soon after the three-month period. However, the same report also showed that 1,156 people who spent more than 12 months waiting on operations - more than half the national total of those waiting for over one year - were in just five hospitals, one of which was Tallaght. Last year, the NTPF said that people who could not get treatment at their local hospital after the three month period would be transferred to another facility. One elderly woman from South Dublin, who needs a hip replacement and is in constant pain, has been on a waiting list at Tallaght Hospital for the last six months. The woman’s son wrote to the NTPF recently and requested that she be treated at another hospital. In a written response, it was stated: “At this time, Tallaght Hospital’s waiting lists show that there are still a number of surgical patients waiting over 12 months on their in-patient waiting list. Waiting “Having regard to equity of access for all public patients, we have asked Tallaght Hospital to deal with those patients waiting longest as a priority in line with our mandate. “Thereafter the NTPF will move to treat those who are waiting less than 12 months.” Her son, who did not want to be named, said patients at Tallaght Hospital were losing out because people at other hospitals on the NTPF list were being treated after three months. He called on the NTPF to create a centralised system, maintaining that it would be fairer to register all patients on a national list rather than on lists at individual hospitals, as there are huge disparities in waiting times between some facilities. “The National Treatment Purchase Fund should be treating everyone in the country on a national list,” he said. “As it stands if someone is on the list in Cork for three months, they will be treated before someone who has been on the list for 12 months in Tallaght. It should be on a first come first served basis. My argument is that all people are not being treated equally.” Deputy Olivia Mitchell (FG) called for what she described as the NTPF “twin-track” approach to be abandoned immediately. “What is really bizarre and completely unacceptable is that if this woman was to attend any other orthopaedic hospital she would have been eligible for surgery through the NTPF last May,” Deputy Mitchell said. Individual “This system is penalising the patients for the length of their hospital waiting list. This makes no sense and is completely unfair to patients living in the Tallaght catchment area.” A spokesman for the NTPF said they would not comment on individual cases. However, he said: “The specific mandate of the National Treatment Purchase Fund is to arrange treatment for those public patients who have been waiting longest for their operation in the public hospital system. “There are many patients currently waiting longer than 12 months for surgery in Tallaght Hospital which the NTPF is prepared to deal with if they are referred by the hospital.” |
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Developed by Kevin Flynn