THE NATIONAL TREATMENT Purchase Fund (NTPF) has today said that it will be reviewing “insourcing work with all public hospitals” following information becoming public from a CHI report, which claimed that weekend clinics at one children’s hospital were not in line with waitlist protocols. 

It has written to all public hospitals with whom it funds insourcing to obtain confirmation that all work being carried out is in line with the strict “Memoranda of Understanding” signed by these hospitals. 

“A strict deadline of Monday, June 16th has been given for the completion of this work and the NTPF will report on this to the Department and the HSE,” a spokesperson said. 

The report, which has been seen by The Journal and other media outlets, raised concerns about whether “throughput” was prioritised in these weekend clinics “over patient care”. The document, which remains unpublished, has now been referred to Gardaí. 

It noted that there was a €200 fee per each child seen in ten minute slots, which it said were shorter than the typical consultation times for new patients in the equivalent outpatient day clinic at the hospital during the week. 

Today the NTPF said it takes the issues raised by the report “very seriously”. 

A spokesperson said that it is “completely unacceptable that there would be any misuse of public money and that children would wait longer for surgery when the whole purpose of the NTPF is to ensure faster access to treatment for public patients”. 

They said that the NTPF will now explore options for “restitution” while ensuring that public patients get the treatment they deserve. 

The NTPF put a pause on insourcing work with CHI to allow for a review to take place to ensure that ongoing clinics it funds are compliant and offer “value for money”. 

It hit back at reports that this pause will result in “thousands” of children having their surgeries delayed saying that the claims are “totally inaccurate, ill-informed and very disappointing to read”. 

The NTPF says it was funding an average of four surgeries per week and an average of 115 outpatient consultations per week through insourcing. 

The spokesperson said that the intention is to complete the review and restore insourcing as soon as possible.