Public patients are being treated under the National Treatment Purchase Fund without having to spend months on public hospital waiting lists, it has emerged.
The director of the fund, Ms Maureen Lynott, said yesterday that, while initially the fund had focused on adult patients who had been waiting over a year for an operation and children who had been waiting over six months, it had also been dealing with cases where patients were waiting short periods for treatment for life-threatening conditions, primarily heart conditions.
"You can't have waiting lists for life-threatening conditions," she said, explaining the development.
She confirmed that "a handful" of patients with life-threatening conditions had already been treated under the fund, and later this year it would also arrange treatment for more than 30 children from Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin, Dublin, who require heart surgery but have been waiting less than six months for treatment. The surgery will be carried out in the UK and the US.
"The time is not the deciding factor in these cases. Their medical need is," she said.
The fund was set up by the Government just over a year ago to remove from waiting lists those patients who had been waiting years for treatment.
A surgeon at Crumlin, Dr Freddie Wood, said that €6.5 million had been spent to date on sending children abroad for cardiac surgery.
"The need for that is very questionable. The money could have been invested here. Somebody has to question these quick-fix solutions and ask if they are worth it," he said.