Michael Harty (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. Before we go off that topic, perhaps I could sow an idea in his head in regard to nursing homes. I believe each nursing home should have a medical officer which would give consistent medical advice and an overview on how the nursing home deals with people who become acutely ill in their care. It would be an interesting study if the Minister could compare the number of admissions from nursing homes that have a medical officer to those who do not. Many of the public nursing homes have a medical officer employed by the HSE whereas most of the private nursing homes do not. If there were consistency of medical management in nursing homes, fewer people would be sent to acute departments when they become ill in a nursing home. When patients are admitted to a nursing home, most nursing homes will introduce an end of life discussion on how people wish to view an illness, should it occur. That is to be encouraged and advance directives in that regard are an item that should be foremost when anybody is admitted to a nursing home. Obviously one wants to do the best one can for a person in a nursing home but there are illnesses which will not benefit substantially in terms of treatment when the patient lands on a trolley. The introduction of a medical officer in each nursing home is something the Minister might consider.

We are skipping around a bit, which is fine if that is okay. The next item on the programme is the Vote of €2,807,000 million for the primary care reimbursement services, PCRS which is referred to in page 8 of the analysis of the revised Estimates.

On that topic, I noticed that the percentage of properly completed medical card or GP visit card applications processed within 15 days is approximately 90%. Is that an improvement or a true reflection of what is happening? It does not seem to be reflected on the ground, where people have great difficulty in having their medical card application approved.