The Health Service Executive will use private hospitals to "help clear the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) lists," its Chief Executive has said.
Speaking on RTÉ's News at One, Paul Reid said the arrangement made with private hospitals at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic "was absolutely the right thing to do" to "help deal with the expected surge" of cases.
He said: "Thankfully we haven't seen that huge surge, so that is good, but we are now focused on how can we maximise that arrangement to the best." This is based on addressing three key areas, Mr Reid said, which are cancer and cardiology services, time-dependent surgeries, and the use of the NTPF mechanism for procedures "to be done from now until the duration of the