Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 236: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the reason for the lengthy delays in processing medical card renewals in Finglas, Dublin 11; her views on the maximum target times which should apply in this regard; and the steps she will take to address this matter. [46279/08]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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The Health Service Executive (HSE), through the Schemes Modernisation Programme, has greatly improved the operational efficiency and customer friendliness of its medical card and GP visit card processes in recent years. Progress includes:

A national training programme and the publication of guidelines for staff involved in assessments. Such training and guidelines ensure that the schemes are administered in a standardised way nationally.

The publication of an information booklet for the public on the various schemes available, including the General Medical Services (GMS) Scheme.

The establishment of the HSE call save "infoline", which provides information to the public on health and social services.

The Executive is targeting a standard national response time of 3-6 weeks for the completion of decisions and replies to medical card applications. This target will only apply in cases where all the required information is supplied by the applicant (approximately 90% of cases). However, more complex cases may require a longer turnaround time. I fully support the Executive in its ongoing endeavours to shorten the turnaround time for medical card applications. As the particular issue raised regarding the renewal of medical cards in Finglas, Dublin 11 is a service matter, it has been referred to the Health Service Executive for direct reply to the Deputy.