Cork mother and son Ber and Paul McCarthy availed of the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) when they were sent to the UK for operations last year and they were very pleased with the outcome.
Ber, from Tower near Blarney, said that she had been waiting for over a year to have an operation on her thumb after an orthopaedic consultant at Cork University Hospital retired and the hospital was awaiting the appointment of a replacement.
"I had a problem with the thumb for about five years and it was getting worse with time. It was a combination of arthritis and wear and tear. I was on the waiting list at CUH for over a year and was told that the orthopaedic consultant had retired and I'd have to wait longer." Ber remembered seeing a programme made by RTÉ's Tommie Gorman about how he went abroad for treatment and when she mentioned it to hospital staff, they told her how to get in contact with the NTPF.
In July 2004, some six months after she contacted the NTPF, Ber was flown to Hampshire Hospital in Basingstoke in England where surgeons operated to remove a piece of bone and relieve the pressure on her thumb.
Three months later in September 2004, Ber's son, Paul (22) underwent surgery on his jaw in the same hospital to correct an orthodontal problem after his orthodontist at St Finbarr's in Cork put his name down for treatment under the NTPF.
"Paul was supposed to have the operation in 2001 but it was dragging on here for three years. We both received the best of treatment over there and I really can't speak highly enough about the scheme and how it helped us. It was excellent," said Ber.