Ms Anne Marie Hoey:

Deputy Ó Caoláin asked about the numbers projected in respect of cards for those under six and the over-70s. When the schemes went live, it was projected that 276,000 children under the age of six would be eligible for the scheme and approximately 40,000 people aged over 70. A total of 204,000 under sixes have registered for the scheme. Children under six continue to register. The number of people over 70 has exceeded the initial projections. The uptake for registration for that scheme was very positive from the beginning and more people turn 70 every month so the numbers have increased.

The assessment tool is being developed by the clinical advisory group. It will be designed to try to enhance the current process by enabling people to describe the burden of illness as it affects the individual or the family. It will support the existing application form without overburdening people with additional work to complete that. To date the assessment tool has been tested at a couple of focus groups and is due to be further tested at focus groups with patient representatives next week. My understanding is that the clinical advisory group will take on board the feedback from the focus groups and in its report in quarter 1 of 2016 will recommend to the health service executive, HSE, that it be adopted for use.

The card for children under the age of 18 diagnosed with cancer was implemented last July. The clinical advisory group made that an interim recommendation but, as its work progresses, it will take into account how that burden of illness is assessed for all cohorts.

The thresholds are set by the Department of Health and the national medical card unit in the HSE implements those thresholds. In respect of capacity in Finglas if GP-visit care is extended from under six to under 12-year olds, approximately 93% of people registered online over the past few months for the card for under sixes, which reduces the volume of paper work for us to process. If that trend continues with the extension of the card, that reduces the number of staff needed to process paper applications. I am confident that we will have capacity, albeit with a small uplift.

Deputy Healy asked about centralising the service and having face-to-face contact. We work on that continually in our interaction with the community health organisations. The centralised system has benefits but we cannot do that in isolation. We have to work with local areas and the intelligence available there. Members of the public go to their local areas for advice and support in completing application forms.

We are holding meetings throughout the country with local health office staff, with GPs and with local representatives and their staff to ensure everybody is fully briefed on the scheme, how it operates and can provide the most up-to-date advice and information to members of the public who come to local offices.