More patients on hospital waiting lists in Cork should be referred to the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF), its chief executive said yesterday.
Pat O'Byrne said the latest figures collated by the fund showed that patients on surgery waiting lists in some areas were more likely to be referred to the fund.
The figures indicate that patients from the west, southeast and northeast are being referred to the fund in large numbers.
However, Mr O'Byrne said patients from Cork accounted for only 6.5 per cent of the fund's work even though Cork has 12 per cent of the State's population.
In comparison, patients from Galway account for 8.9 per cent of the fund's work, while Galway has 5.3 per cent of the Republic's population.
Patients from Waterford account for 3.4 per cent of the referrals, while Waterford has 2.5 per cent of the population.
"Now there are other areas, like, for instance, Donegal, where on the one hand a lot of progress has been made, but we would also like to see more orthopaedic referrals from Co Donegal," Mr O'Byrne said.
The fund also wants more orthopaedic referrals from Cork and urges patients who have been waiting more than three months for treatment to contact the fund or get their GP, consultant or hospital to do so. The fund's number is 1890 720 820.
Asked to explain why more patients were being referred to the fund from some regions rather than others, Mr O'Byrne said that at one time it was an uphill battle getting hospitals and doctors to refer patients. Now "the battles really are few and far between".
However, he said there were still "some problems of consultants out there where more co-operation could be achieved and where more referrals could be made to the fund, and we are hoping to overcome any outstanding difficulties that are there and make the scheme work for everybody".
The fund arranges free private treatment for any public patient who has been on a hospital waiting list for more than three months.
To date it has arranged treatments varying from varicose-vein operations to heart bypass surgery for almost 40,000 patients since it was set up in 2002.
Last year the fund set up an online national patient treatment register which allows patients access details on how long they may have to wait for procedures at seven hospitals, mainly in Dublin.
In April another 11 hospitals will be added to the register. These will include another three Dublin hospitals - Temple Street, Cappagh and the Eye and Ear - as well as hospitals in the midwest, west and south.
The fund also began last year tackling outpatient waiting lists on a pilot basis.
Some 4,500 patients have been seen in outpatients and had the treatment they required there. The project is now being evaluated.
Some of those treated had been waiting up to four years to see a consultant in outpatients.
Mr O'Byrne said he hoped to be able to double the number of outpatients treated by the fund this year.