Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is a valuable service. I hope the Deputy got taken care of. Areas covered include acute treatments such as inflammatory or infectious eye conditions, chronic treatments such as cataracts, pre- and post-op care, age-related macular degeneration, surgical treatments such as corneal ulcer surgery and eyelid injuries.

The treatment fees are set out in schedule 3 of SI 274 from 2013. The fees are set at either €59.51 or €75.76 depending on the service. The payments were reduced in 2009 and they were reduced again in 2013. Those reductions were not reversed after the financial emergency measures in the public interest, FEMPI, period came to an end. As the Deputy said, they are considered by the IMO and some of the contractors not to be sustainable. To that end, we will do a review next year to see whether there is an argument for a change in the fee.

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