Almost 2 thousand patients in Clare have benifited under the National Treatment Purchase Fund.
New figures also show that there’s been significant progress in reducing waiting times for public patients in the county awaiting surgery.
The National Treatment Purchase Fund was established with the aim of cutting the length of time that public patients wait for operations – with the average now at 2.8 months, compared to between 2 and 5 years in 2002.
In the early stages under NTPF it was necessary to send some patients abroad for treatment but now patients are facilitiated at private hospitals in Ireland and the treatment is free.
Here in Clare 1,807 of the county’s longest waiting patients have benefited through the work of the Treatment Purchase Fund
Among the types of surgeries received by public patients in the coutny include treatment of cataracts, hip and knee replacement, heart surgery,, prostate and gall bladder surgery, colonoscopies and varicose vein surgery.
