John Kelly (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. I agree with Senator Crown's contribution on Roscommon County Hospital and the good name of Dr. Pat McHugh. I agree with his words on the Naughton family from Roscommon who have three children with multiple dystrophy. It appears that the Department of Health is doing nothing to assist them. The family are out fund-raising to save the lives of their three children. Not enough is being done for them.

As other speakers have mentioned, I wish to raise the frustration people feel dealing with the PCRS when trying to acquire a medical card. I was a community welfare officer for 28 years dealing with medical cards at a local level on Roscommon. There were no issues when they were being dealt with at local level. I was a county councillor when it was proposed to centralise it and I said it would not work. I was right; it has not worked. People are frustrated trying to get a medical card. In many cases they are frustrated when they are entitled to a medical card. I am not even sure if the Minister is aware of this. When a person applies for a medical card in eight out of ten cases either the PCRS will lose some of the documentation sent into it or will claim it never got it. It will write back to the applicant stating that he or she has 21 days to send it in again. When it is sent in again, it will not look at the file for 21 days. Then if something else is missing, it is a similar issue. So issues drag on and on when people are looking for medical cards.

I know of a mature student who has been trying to get a medical card for the past 12 months. There is correspondence going from my office to the PCRS and to him for 12 months and he still does not have a medical card. He has absolutely no income. He is not getting a grant. He is being supported by his elderly parents and is also being supported by the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. I have on file a letter from the Society of St. Vincent de Paul here in Dublin verifying that it is supporting him while he is studying law. With absolutely no income, he still has not got a medical card after 12 months. This is the kind of thing that is going on and nobody is addressing it. When I raised those issues with the HSE, I was asked if I would be prepared to go out to the PCRS and discuss these issues with officials there. I said I would, but I never got the invitation to go.

I wish to speak about those aged over 70. I recently met a 75-year old lady who exceeds the medical card guidelines by €9. She has many medical issues and is on a considerable amount of medication. She has frequent doctor and consultant appointments. As she is over the threshold by €9, she is not entitled to a medical card. If she was over by €1, she would not be entitled to a medical card. For her to be assessed on health grounds and financial grounds, a different guideline is applied to her, which is a guideline for a person aged under 70. This makes no sense; she is 75 years of age.

There should be a mechanism that if she is over by €9, in the same way as if she is under 70, and if she has medical expenses, that they should be added on to the €500 guideline to give her a chance of getting a medical card. I ask the Minister to respond to the issues raised.