Madam, - Weekend reports in other media of a "loophole" in the health system in which public patients supposedly receive private treatment through the NTPF after purposely cancelling a public appointment are completely inaccurate and misleading.
It is totally untrue that patients are "cashing in on the NTPF scheme by cancelling their first appointment or going on holidays".
The health system deals with patients who require surgery and, being in need of surgery, patients are often ill or experiencing discomfort. It is our experience that patients wish to be treated as quickly as possible and would not turn down an imminent and definite date for treatment at their hospital in order to go back into the system to qualify for treatment through the NTPF at an undetermined future point.
The vast majority of public patients receive surgical treatment in public hospitals within three months. When public patients are waiting for more than three months for procedures they become eligible under the National Treatment Purchase Fund.
The NTPF liaises closely with the public hospitals on all of the cases we deal with and were any pattern of patients cancelling their treatment in the manner described to come to our notice it would be dealt with quickly. Similarly, any cynical manipulation or exploitation by doctors of the three-month waiting system would be condemned as unacceptable and not in patients' interests.
In the public hospital system, there are approximately 1.2 million discharges post-treatment annually. It happens for human and social reasons that a tiny fraction - fewer than 1 per cent - are not in a position to attend for surgery when called. This occurs, for instance in cases of pregnancy or examinations and because patients may have other underlying medical conditions.
This is the case in private hospitals as well as public hospitals. As a matter of course these people are rescheduled in the public system - Yours, etc,
PAT O'BYRNE, Chief Executive, National Treatment Purchase Fund, Tara Street, Dublin 2.