John Kelly (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for taking this Adjournment debate. Like many other Deputies and Senators, I have grave concern over what is happening with medical cards of late. I had grave concerns when responsibility for issuing medical cards was first centralised in the PCRS. I spent 28 years dealing with medical cards as a community welfare officer. I have never previously experienced such anger over the withdrawal of medical cards and it never happened before the PCRS took over.

I know a young lad in my area who cannot walk or talk and cannot eat other than through a tube. He requires care 24 hours a day and seven days a week. He had a medical card for years and it was withdrawn. We spent five months fighting to get the card back for him.

There are many other cases of people with, or recovering from, cancer, people with all kinds of disabilities, 90 year olds who have medical cards until 2015, which all of a sudden are being reviewed. One of the problems at issue is in the primary care reimbursement service, PCRS, where staff have been stressed out for a long time and cannot cope.

For 21 of the past 28 years the guidelines for medical cards increased, not by much, on 31 December. For the past six or seven years there has been no increase. That is a problem. Everybody from the young to the old, the disabled to the deserving, feels intimidated by the review process. Cards validated into the future are being withdrawn or reviewed. People feel that the Health Service Executive, HSE, is trying to find the €37 million for the under-six medical cards by taking it from those who need it most.

What is worse are the procedures applied. In every case the PCRS asks for further information. In most cases the information is already submitted but it loses it or cannot find it. When I send in medical card applications I scan everything first and send it off but the PCRS tells me that some information I have e-mailed has not arrived although it has. This buys time for the PCRS. When I send in the information again the PCRS will not read the application for a further 15 working days. During that time people have no medical cards and the process goes on much longer.

I have it on very good authority that the situation in the PCRS is like Bedlam. The powers that be thought it would be a panacea for medical card delivery but it is not. When this was dealt with at local level compassion was shown, there was knowledge of the cases and delivery was expedient. That has all gone in order to take cards away from deserving people. They are deserving not only because of illness but also because many have financial difficulties, which are not taken into account. People have loans that are not assessed for medical card purposes.

I do not know if the Minister of State is aware that the HSE has brought in a German company to review the medical cards. One could almost say that Chancellor Angela Merkel is reviewing medical cards in this country because that is how it appears. Due to the moratorium on recruitment this company, Arvato, which has no experience of reviewing medical cards, is here. It shows no compassion whatsoever. If one is over the limit by €1 one is no longer entitled to a medical card.

There is no need to consider a third tier medical card. If the work was sent back and dealt with locally, as it was for years, we would not have this problem. The process in the PCRS is a complete and utter failure.