Patients who have been treated under the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) are showing better clinical outcomes than patients treated in the normal way.
The patients treated under the fund are those who have been waiting longest on public hospital waiting lists. They are referred by the fund to private hospitals in the Republic, the North and in Britain to have their surgery. A small number are also treated in public hospitals with spare capacity.
Over 10,000 patients have been treated by the fund to date, at a cost of €36 million.
The fund's medical adviser, Prof Arthur Tanner, told a press briefing in Dublin yesterday he had reviewed the outcomes of these patients.
"We have a very good data collection system that allows us to audit the outcomes, and, although the numbers still are very small, it does appear that the outcomes of patients treated in this scheme are, if anything, better than the outcomes that would be achievable within the national or international norms," he said.
"I don't think we have the facility to look at why that is so, but it's quite possibly because patients are getting consultant-delivered treatment on the NTPF that their outcomes tend to be better than national or international norms," he added.
Patients referred for treatment under the fund are always treated by a consultant, while, in public hospitals, operations are sometimes performed by more-junior doctors. The fund started in mid-2002 by referring for treatment adults who had waited more than a year and children who had been waiting more than six months.
The director of the fund, Ms Maureen Lynott, said the fund's major achievement had been in removing 97 per cent of the patients who had been waiting longest - from two to eight years - from hospital waiting lists.
Despite the success of the fund, figures released in December showed over 9,000 patients still waiting more than a year for treatment.
Ms Lynott said 65 per cent of health boards and hospitals were now referring adults who had been waiting six months for treatment and children who had been waiting more than three months.
Furthermore, she said the fund was now introducing a system whereby patients who were on a waiting list for more than six months would automatically get a letter from their health board asking if they wanted to be treated under the fund.
Patients wishing to see if they qualify for treatment can contact the NTPF directly on lo-call 1890 720 820.