The National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) continues to commission treatment for the longest waiting patients where budget and capacity allows.
€200 million was allocated to the NTPF under Budget 2026. With this allocation the NTPF has undertaken, through the Waiting Time Action Plan to provide 143,000 episodes of patient care: 100,000 OPD appointments, 23,000 IPDC procedures and 20,000 endoscopy procedures.
In relation to the particular query raised, the NTPF has advised my Department that the commissioning team is currently progressing the release of offers to all hospitals nationally. The NTPF has continued to outsource clinically suitable long-waiting patients from the Midland Regional Hospital Inpatient/Daycase waiting list for hip operations to private providers.