Private hospitals now getting 60pc of public funds that are spent tackling waiting lists

For-profit facilities are getting more than €100m a year – and they want more

The fund was set up to tackle hospital waiting lists. Stock photo: Getty

Eilish O'Regan

Private hospitals are being paid increasing levels of public money to reduce public waiting lists, with for-profit operators earning more than €100m a year from the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF).

The fund is battling controversy over the use of funding at Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) and Beaumont Hospital in Dublin to cut down on large backlogs of public patients on waiting lists facing long delays.