THE NATIONAL TREATMENT Purchase fund has cut funding to another public hospital temporarily after finding ” potential financial irregularities” in relation to NTPF-funded insourcing work at another public hospital. 

The NTPF has suspended all insourcing work at that hospital since 11 April, it said. 

It has alerted the Department of Health and the HSE of its findings and subsequent actions. 

“The matter has been referred to the HSE’s Internal Audit team.  The NTPF is restricted from making further comment at this stage,” a spokesperson said. 

The NTPF did not name the hospital in question. 

It further announced that it has recommenced insourcing clinics at Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) hospitals after they were temporarily paused after an internal CHI report, which has not been published but has been seen by The Journal and other media outlets, raised concerns that children were having to wait longer for surgical interventions due to being placed on the waitlist for an NTPF funded insourcing clinic. 

The NTPF has said that it will now “increase” its governance and oversight across its insourcing work in public hospitals. 

“Insourcing work through the NTPF has delivered benefits to thousands of patients in recent years and has a demonstrable impact on waiting times and waiting list numbers.

“However, it is vital there is public trust and confidence around insourcing with public hospitals. It must be remembered that these public hospitals already have clear and established lines of reporting and accountability within the public system and clear obligations to comply with the terms of the signed Memorandum of Understanding in respect of NTPF-funded work” NTPF Chief Executive Fiona Brady said. 

In a statement from the Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, he said that in April  the NTPF alerted the Department of Health and HSE about potential financial irregularities in relation to NTPF-funded insourcing work at a public hospital. 

“It has suspended all insourcing work with that hospital pending examination,” she said, confirming that the matter has been referred to the HSE’s Internal Audit team.

The minister did not name the hospital in question, stating that she is awaiting the outcome of the wider review of all insourcing initiatives across the system which she asked the HSE CEO to undertake.

The NTPF provides funding for patients on waiting lists to get treatment in both public and private settings.

It pays for clinics to be set up in public hospitals outside of normal working hours, i.e on weekends, wherein staff already working at the hospital are paid additionally to carry out extra work. This is known as “insourcing”. 

The NTPF last week suspended funding to CHI hospitals over concerns raised in an internal audit, related to an insourcing clinic at the hospital. 

A consultant attached to that clinic was paid  €35,800 in NTPF funding, but a subsequent report flagged concerns over whether the children who were placed on the waiting list could have been seen faster in the public system. 

For some children, their care was urgent, and they needed to have certain interventions within a specific timeframe in order to lessen the likelihood of adverse outcomes later in life.