Karen (47) from Coolock was on a public waiting list for three years before she had keyhole surgery to treat severe gallstones.
In constant agony she found out about the National Treatment Purchase Fund through a friend who gave her a contact number. She was never provided with information on the NTPF by her GP.
"There was no mention of it, I was just left waiting. Nothing was said to me and I didn't particularly notice anything up in the waiting room," she says.
With the NTPF in its third year, Karen, like many patients who have spent years on the public waiting list, believes there is insufficient publicity about the NTPF system and that many people do not know of the organisation.
"I don't think a lot of people know about it, you don't hear a lot about it, you get the odd advert and that is it, there could be a lot more publicity though," she says.
Karen said the only real problem she encountered was when she "rang the NTPF a few times and asked where I was on the list, they kept saying I was near the top of it, but I wasn't really - I was at the bottom."
Despite this, from the time she was referred to the consultant her procedure took place one month later. Since her procedure in the Bons Secours Hospital last March, Karen says that her quality of life has totally changed. "It's great, and there is no more pain."
• Names have been changed to preserve identity.
• NTPF 1890 720 820 or 01 6427101.