Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Health (General Practitioner Service) Bill 2018 seeks to extend GP visit cards to those in receipt of carer's allowance or carer's benefits. It is welcome. The announcement that this legislation was to be brought forward was accompanied by an additional €10 million funding for respite care. I welcome the focus on the issues that carers face. However, Ireland has the only EU health system which does not offer universal cover for GP care, which is disappointing. The Government has promised to improve support for carers and it has to honour that. The 2016 figures show that 45% of the population receives free or subsidised GP care via medical cards or GP visit cards. The proposal to extend free GP coverage to those in receipt of carer's allowance and carer's benefits is part of a phased expansion of coverage to different cohorts. While GP card eligibility was initially solely based on means, it has been extended to all children under six and all adults aged 70 or over. I welcome that.

This proposed legislation will grant the GP visit card to some 14,000 carers. This represents the 70% of those in receipt of carer's allowance or carer's benefits who do not already have free access to GP care. As of June 2018, some 77,384 people received carer's allowance and 2,747 received carer benefits. The vast majority - some 83% - of this combined population already have access to free GP care as they satisfied the existing qualifying criteria for medical cards or GP visit cards. Figures from the census of 2016 show that there are 195,263 carers in the country. This legislation will bring a new entitlement to free GP care to some 70% of carers. GP visit cards, while granting free access to GP care, differ from medical cards in that they do not provide access to medication, aids or appliances, or a whole range of pioneering social care services to which medical cards facilitate access. People with GP visit cards remain liable for all other charges, including public healthcare levies for non-medical card holders.

Evidence indicates that carers have poor mental and physical health outcomes, so extending free GP care to carers would be of particular value to them. The explanatory memorandum accompanying the Bill estimates that this measure will have a full year cost of €2.8 million, comprising €2.4 million for those in receipt of carer's allowance and €400,000 for those in receipt of carer's benefit. The 2016 census recorded 195,263 carers providing 6,608,515 hours of care each week. That is an average of 38.7 hours of unpaid care per carer. This represents 4.1% of the population, which is the same proportion shown in the census of 2011. The majority - 60.5%, which is 118,151 carers - are women and over half of all carers - 52.7% - were aged between 40 and 59. The greatest proportion of carers was in the 50 to 54 age group, accounting for 28,700 carers, or 14.7%.

Many people come into my constituency office and ask what is the carer's allowance. The carer's allowance is a payment made by the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection to people on low income looking after a person needing full-time support because of age, disability or illness. If a carer is in receipt of certain social welfare payments and is providing full-time care and attention for another person he or she can retain his or her main social welfare payment and also receive a half-rate carer's allowance. I am also asked what is a carer's benefit. It is a short-term payment, for up to 24 months, for people who give up employment to care on a full-time basis for someone who requires full-time care and attention. Carers do not work for the money. They have a vocation. The big problem I have is that many people come into my constituency office looking for carers. These people go to a GP and are told that they are entitled to carer's allowance. When I look at the medical report the GP gives that person I know that it is not sufficient. We have to be honest with these people. A large amount of time and effort is put into the application form for carer's allowance. The Department always asks for more information. We find that TDs have to send the information. We can scan the information and look after it. The Department just goes back and forth with the carers. The amount of money carers have saved this country is unbelievable. It is not about the money for those people; it is a vocation.

See this speech in context