Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It will be short this time. The point I wanted to make, when the Minister of State was also present, relates to the importance of dealing with eating disorders in the CAMHS system. There are very serious deficiencies in the degree to which patients are dealt with and put on whatever medication is necessary. One of the problems that comes up again and again is that the patient does not follow the required medication and the problem becomes more serious. I would like to see some reform there.

An issue I raised previously is the question of medical card holders, and in one case the holder of a GP-visit card, who, for one reason or another, do not qualify for an upgrade to a full medical card. In one of the cases I dealt with, it was due to misadventure in one of our hospitals. I would have thought it was the primary aim to ensure, insofar as it can be done, that trauma for the patient is alleviated as much as possible. I hope it is not a possibility that nothing is done unless liability is accepted or something. That should not be the case. The trauma was on the patient at the time, in a hospital, as a result of which that patient now has a serious problem.

There may be a case later. I do not know, as I have no indication of that, but there are situations where there were no legal cases at all and it still made no difference. I ask that the Minister consider this matter again. A full medical card could be of help to the patient. Such patients have many worries.

I wish to raise the issue of cataracts. In some cases, people do not need to travel anywhere, as we can deal with them right now if we have to, but there was a patient who had been on a waiting list for a long time and was suddenly going blind. For a person living alone, that was a problem. He was not that old of a patient either. He had his cataracts done by capitalising his pension or something like that, which is something he should not have had to do, and getting help from relatives. The HSE refused to pay for it afterwards despite the fact that we had purchase arrangements in place and services were readily available nearby, although he was not aware of that. I ask that something be done – this is the subject matter of a number of my parliamentary questions – to alleviate the burden on people in such cases. If people are suddenly told they will be blind in a week, it concentrates the mind fairly quickly, especially if they are living alone.