Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister stated in his reply that additional information will not be sought in respect of a life-long condition. However, that is not the true in two of the cases which I have brought to the Minister's attention. I will bring that information to the attention of the HSE, using the reply given to me today by the Minister.

I understand that economic situations can change and I am not disputing that reviews should be carried out. However, requiring a person who, for example, is suffering kidney failure and is in receipt of chemotherapy and cannot work to provide information which it is costly to obtain in order to prove that he or she has a medical condition is unfair. The Minister said that the expiry date on the card is the latest date for a review. In the cases of the two children I mentioned the cards were valid to end April 2015 and they had been issued on a three-year basis. There appears to be a systematic review that occurs way short of the expiry date of the card.

The Minister will be aware that for a child with a major disability, such as one of the children to whom I referred, a medical card is of critical importance in the context of access to other services within the HSE, including a public health nurse and so on. As such the medical card becomes critically important in keeping a child like that in reasonable health. I hope the Minister will consider requesting that further changes be made. I do not think it is unreasonable to ask that people whose condition is not going to change not be asked to provide the same information in a fairly short timeframe, when doing so puts them under huge pressure.

See this speech in context