Ms Laura McGarrigle:

Absolutely. It is there in the report that the IDG was acknowledging the reality that the more the Government might expand access to services, potentially the flip side of that could be that those who need the services most could find themselves delayed. The IDG acknowledges that this could be a dynamic that has to be grappled with in policy terms. Given the scale of this scheme with 19,000 people with length of stay of over six months, and the fact that the commission had recommended that Government consider providing for those with health needs, it was considered that the enhanced medical card was a way of giving a level of assurance of guaranteed access to statutory services. The statutory entitlement would support a guarantee of access to therapy and home help services. Beyond that, going on an individual case basis would probably require that the public health system be able to triage access to acute hospital services based on need in terms of public lists.