The Minister for Health Dr James Reilly T.D. today (28 July, 2011)
announced changes in the role of the National Treatment Purchase Fund which
will take place with immediate effect.
These changes are another stage in the implementation of the Government’s
health reform agenda and follow on from the establishment of the Special
Delivery Unit.
There are main three changes involved:
(a) all public hospitals are being instructed to ensure they have
no patients waiting more than 12 months by the end of the year;
(b) the NTPF will target particular backlogs rather than routinely
accept referrals of patients waiting over 3 months; and
(c) the requirement that the NTPF purchase 90% of treatments in the
private sector is being ended.
‘When I announced the setting up of the SDU I said that the role of the
NTPF would be changed to support the mission of the new Unit. The SDU led
by Dr Martin Connor is already putting systems in place to track, monitor
and manage patient flows through the hospital system. I intend that the
resources of the NTPF, and by that I mean not just financial resources but
also its data systems and highly trained and experienced staff, will now be
fully aligned with the SDU’ the Minister said.
The NTPF is entering a transition phase. It will continue to fund patient
treatments but will be shifting its focus to target waiting lists more
strategically, to deliver more treatments for the funds provided and to
incentivise hospitals to manage their lists proactively in the interests of
patients.
The SDU is carrying out a detailed analysis of the management of elective
and non-elective care. However, it is already clear that individual
hospitals can do more to reduce maximum waiting times for their patients.
‘It is unacceptable that hospitals leave some patients on waiting lists
for very long periods of time safe in the knowledge that the NTPF will
eventually pick up the tab. I will no longer tolerate this attitude to
patients – hospitals need to become accountable for the listing decisions
of their surgeons. As part of the changes I am announcing today I am
requiring all hospitals to ensure that they have no patient listed as
waiting over 12 months for treatment by the end of the year. Where they
fail to do so, the NTPF will source the necessary treatments and the
hospitals’ budgets will be reduced by a corresponding amount in 2012’ the
Minister said.
I want a system where the patient and taxpayer get the greatest return on
scarce resources consistent with quality and safety. I am ending the
requirement that the NTPF purchase 90% of treatments in the private sector.
The NTPF will purchase treatments wherever it gets the best value in either
the public or the private sector. I want the NTPF to drive a hard bargain
on behalf of patients without regard to the location of the treatment’ the
Minister said.
The SDU will be introducing a more focussed strategy to target treatments
for patients. This will require new data systems, a new accountability
framework and a sustained focus by clinical and management leaders in
hospitals to reduce the lists from their present level and prevent them
building up again. As part of these changes, the Minister has decided that
for the remainder of this year the NTPF will no longer routinely accept
referrals for those patients waiting over 3 months as at present. It will
still provide treatments for patients but will target specific backlogs.
Follow up treatments for existing patients will be provided as is the
normal practice.
The NTPF and the SDU are already working in close collaboration. The NTPF
capability will be a core part of the SDU’s performance management role in
holding public hospitals to account. The changes being announced today lay
the foundation for this transformation, and introduce the concept of
rigorously enforced maximum waiting times. These maximum waits will be
systematically reduced in the coming months and years to deliver the goal
of eliminating excessive waiting lists from the Ireland health economy,