Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Private Members' motion because no one in this House disagrees on the protection of senior citizens. In common with many other Members present, I work with various groups in my constituency to ensure senior citizens get every opportunity to enjoy life, to participate in their communities and in all aspects of it, and in which many opportunities are available to them. One can see, through various organisations, the amount of time, effort and dedication volunteers give to senior citizens. What I like most about this is that senior citizens in many places are beginning to realise their potential to give back to the community. In many cases, it is their ability to run all aspects of their associations. Bowls has become a major activity in my home area and there are so many clubs that the county board must run events six nights a week to ensure everyone is able to partake. This is because the senior citizens themselves wish to participate. They wish to give back, to be responsible and in that way to enjoy themselves. Those who may be unable to partake are brought along for the enjoyment and participation. This works across all aspects of the community, be it sport, drama, community activities and so on.

The misinformation in respect of the medical card appears to be the central focus of many of the problems. Even given that focus, however, it is important there should be a review of the medical card system. There have been efforts in this regard, comprising both a targeted and a random review, within the past two years. The targeted review was carried out in 2012 in respect of 40,000 medical card holders who had not accessed medical services for a period of 12 months or more, and approximately 39% of those medical card holders did not respond to the effect that they were resident in the country. Consequently, one can discern immediately that a review is needed. The random review of 2,628 medical and GP-visit cards was carried out in early 2013. Eligibility was confirmed for 73% of the cards while it has not been finalised for another 2%. A total of 4% of the cards were not renewed because of eligibility criteria and 21% of the card holders did not respond to renew their cards. Again, one can discern immediately that there is a need to bring these data up to date, to ascertain our direction on this issue and to assess the costs that must be determined in these times and, in so doing, to ensure the Health Service Executive will be able to evaluate and give value for money in the medical card system.

Medical cards also have been awarded on discretionary grounds and I have a concern in this regard, having encountered particular cases in which cards have been withdrawn. I hope these issues can be surmounted through the application of common sense. One point about a person having a discretionary card is the comfort of having it. In many instances, the card is not simply something the person has for the sake of having it. The person in question uses it because of the circumstances in which he or she finds him or herself. Will the Minister for Health ensure the HSE uses an available mechanism to get all the information, to get it correctly and to process it as quickly as possible? There have been too many instances in which an appeal has been made or a review instigated that has necessitated the sending of the file from Dublin to Cork or to Donegal. This lengthens the process, which is not good work and it should not happen like this because it places the family concerned under pressure. In respect of the appeal mechanism, the card should remain valid while the appeal is being heard. I ask the Minister to review this situation and when a card is being reviewed, it should be allowed to remain in place. This would give comfort to the people who were subject to the review because they would know that were they to make a mistake and fail to submit the information the first time, they would be given this chance and would not be obliged to have the entire card reassessed. I will conclude by asking the Minister to do these two things.

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