Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)

The agreement recently reached with GPs in terms of the processing of medical cards is a very welcome one and it enables a number of actions to be done. The first is to extend a person's eligibility in the case of vulnerable patients where they may not be in a position to do that themselves. The second is in regard to patients who are deceased. Their names are being removed from the panel from the date of date. The names of newborn babies are being added now by GPs from the date of birth. That is real progress. It is a new functionality for GPs and is very much to be welcomed.

Regarding terminally ill patients, there is a new arrangement that has been clarified. In the case of a person with a terminal illness, where that terminal illness is validated by a GP or a consultant, there is a nominated person in the local health office who has a direct line to the primary care reimbursement service, PCRS, and where that person is contacted an emergency medical card can be provided within a 24 hour period. I am in the process of producing an information sheet to go out to Members of this House to inform them of that new arrangement and I am waiting for confirmation that all of the staff concerned are aware of these arrangements but I can confirm that all GPs and all social workers are aware of that new arrangement. I hope that will work smoothly from now on.

Regarding incomplete forms, most of the current backlog relates to incomplete forms and to get those on the move staff in the PCRS are contacting people directly by telephone to fill in those blanks and get their hands on the missing documents required to process that. I am very hopeful that all of the backlog will be cleared by the end of April.

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