Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)

I thank Deputy Lynch for raising this issue. I am very conscious of the fact there have been serious difficulties and delays in processing applications, renewals and appeals of medical cards. I have been in ongoing discussions with the HSE in recent months to ensure the level of service provided to the public is brought up to an acceptable level because what is happening at present is not acceptable.

I wish to clarify a number of developments that have taken place in recent weeks and months which should improve the situation. Any medical card holder undergoing a review for a renewed card who genuinely engages with the HSE in this review will retain entitlement to a medical card until such time as the HSE decides on the outcome of the review. This new procedure applies to individuals regardless of the expiry date shown on their medical card.

The eligibility of all standard medical cards for people under 66 years of age has been extended to three years, and to four years for people aged 66 years and over. A self-assessment review process is now in place for all standard renewals for all clients, regardless of age. Discretionary cards, emergency cards and cards held by people in a small number of other categories will continue to be reviewed in the normal way. A fast-track decision process and the associated technical changes have been put in place to deal with urgent review cases. In addition to these changes to the processes for medical card applications, 20 additional staff were redeployed to the central office in January to bring its complement to 150 people. I hope this will help improve the level of service.

I know Deputy Lynch is particularly concerned about medical card appeals. It is HSE policy that a person's eligibility is maintained while the outcome of an appeal is awaited. I will ask the HSE to ensure immediately that this policy is applied in respect of the case the Deputy highlighted and to ensure adequate procedures are in place to prevent mistakes such as this occurring in future. I will engage further with the HSE on the points raised by the Deputy in respect of the website www.medicalcard.ie. I have taken note of the points he has made and I heard a similar complaint recently.

On the broader issue of appeals, I have had very constructive engagement with the HSE in recent weeks on addressing the backlog in medical card appeals. Extra staffing resources have been deployed in this area in recent weeks. The backlog in appeals is being reduced. In recent weeks more than 500 files have been cleared. I expect progress will continue to be made. Senior staff in the Department have assured me they are targeting the end of April as the date by which most of the backlog should be addressed. I have asked for regular updates on progress in this regard. I am very hopeful we will see significant improvement in the coming weeks. I accept fully what Members have been saying about this. The current level of service has not been acceptable. I thank the Deputy for raising the matter.

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