The National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) is an Irish government body which was established to decrease waiting lists in the Irish public healthcare system. The NTPF pays for public patients to obtain treatment in private hospitals in Ireland or abroad.
The Fund was established under Statutory Instrument 179 - National Treatment Purchase Fund (Establishment) Order, 2004, and the Nursing Homes Support Scheme Act (2009). The NTPF reduced waiting times for procedures from between 2 and 5 years in 2002 to an average of 2.4 months in 2009.
References
National Treatment Purchase Fund Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA