Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I raise the issue again of the Versatis patches. The Cathaoirleach will know I have raised this issue many times over the past months.I recognise that there has been something of a rowing back on this matter and that some adjustments have been made. While I welcome those adjustments, there are still thousands of people in chronic pain who really need Versatis patches. I want to give the House an idea of the plight of one of these people. Her name is Anne-Marie. She is 49 years of age. She says she has had rheumatoid arthritis since 1975. Over the years, her condition has become chronic and she has had almost 40 surgeries, 13 of which involved joint replacements. She has had both hips, both knees, both shoulders, both elbows and several knuckles replaced. Most recently, she has had revision surgery on her shoulder. The other procedures included orthopaedic surgery, gall bladder surgery and so on. She was only five years of age when she found out she had rheumatoid arthritis. Given the amount of surgery she has had over the years and all the wear and tear on her joints, she had pain every single hour of every single day. Given that she had been on opiates long-term, they do not work. The Versatis patch gave her a great deal of relief when she was on it. She has severe back and shoulder pain. In recent days, she has begun to suffer from hip pain again. She also has problems with her kidneys and eyes.

For someone like that to be left in chronic pain, though she gets relief from the Versatis patches, cannot be right. I am appealing for the Minister to give us an update or status report on Versatis patches. I have asked many times for the decision to withdraw Versatis patches from the medical card scheme to be reviewed. It is now time to review it. We are many months into the blunt decision made. I call on the Minister to come to the House to have a debate on this and to provide a true and accurate update on the situation relating to Versatis patches.