Mr. Daragh Connolly:

I wish to interject on that point as well. What Mr. O'Loughlin says is absolutely true. Those are the protocols. As the committee will be aware protocols are often difficult to nail down. If someone works in a system and know the protocols they can be perfectly evident. However, there can be considerable distress among patients who may have left the reception because the computer programme used by the doctor cannot generate a medical card prescription and it is written on a private form instead even though there is an old number. Certainly, it is distressing for the constituents represented by the members at this committee and the patients we have. We must work through the process and we gladly work through it with people but it needs to be tightened up because it is creating anxiety. There is one aspect of this which I see on a day-to-day basis in my pharmacy and which I find particularly heartbreaking. It can result in people having to leave employment if they lose their medical card because of the cost of the medicines, at €144 per month. Furthermore, it might highlight to a person that he could be on psychoactive medicines, which can be expensive, and it may show that his condition can take him out of employment. There is considerable anecdotal evidence in this regard.