Written answer
Health Services
The Minister provided 2025 NTPF outsourcing data for orthopaedic, ENT and endoscopy procedures, but costs were commercially sensitive and HSE figures remained pending.
3959. Deputy Pádraig Rice asked the Minister for Health to provide records for all outsourced procedures in 2025 for certain specialist areas (details supplied); the overall cost per speciality area; the individual cost of each procedure per patient; the private hospital or clinics which billed for these costs; and the cost of the same procedures per patient carried out in public hospital. [63799/26]
Comment on this
Procurement of additional capacity in the private health system for public patients (outsourcing) can be done through both the Health Service Executive (HSE) and the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF).
The NTPF has provided the attached table which shows the number of Orthopaedic, ENT and Endoscopy procedures outsourced in 2025, and the list of Private Hospitals to which the patients were referred. No radiology procedures were outsourced by the NTPF in 2025. The NTPF has advised that it cannot provide the cost per procedure as this is commercially sensitive information.
I have asked the HSE to provide a direct response to the Deputy in respect of patients outsourced through its arrangements, and the cost of the corresponding procedures carried out in public hospitals.
Orthopaedics, ENT & Endoscopy Outsourced Procedures for 2025