Written answers

Tuesday, 31 March 2015

Department of Health

National Dementia Strategy

Photo of Michael Healy-RaeMichael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
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502. To ask the Minister for Health the position regarding the national dementia strategy (details supplied); if dementia will be recognised as a long-term illness with regard to obtaining a medical card and other entitlements; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13238/15]

Photo of Kathleen LynchKathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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In accordance with the Health Act 1970 (as amended), the assessment for a medical card is determined primarily by reference to the means, including the income and expenditure, of the applicant and his or her partner and dependants and there is no entitlement to a medical card for a person with a particular illness or medical condition. The Deputy will be aware of the publication of the Report of the Expert Panel on Medical Need for Medical Card Eligibilityand the Medical Card Process Reviewin November 2014. A key recommendation of the Expert Panel was that a person’s means should remain the main qualifier for a medical card.

However, the Government recognises that the health service needs to be responsive to the circumstances of people with significant medical needs. Following publication of the two reports, in November 2014, the Minister for Health and I announced a series of measures to enhance the operation of the medical card scheme and make it more sensitive to people’s needs, especially where serious illness is involved. Where deemed appropriate in particular circumstances, the HSE may exercise discretion and grant a medical card even though an applicant's means exceed the prescribed threshold. Where a person does not qualify for a medical card, they may be provided with a GP Visit Card, appropriate therapy or other community supports or drugs.

The medical card system is now operating in a more sensible and sensitive manner. The HSE is exercising greater discretion, as is evident in the increase in the number of discretionary medical cards in circulation - by over 55% from about 52,000 in mid-2014 to over 81,000 at the end of February this year.

The Irish National Dementia Strategy was published in December 2014 and the Government, together with the Atlantic Philanthropies foundation, pledged €27.5 million to change how the illness is treated and understood over the next four years. The primary focus of the Strategy is to enable people with dementia to live well in their own homes and communities for as long as possible, and it sets out ways of achieving this. It includes the provision of intensive home care packages, an information campaign and resources for GPs, who are most often the first port of call for people worried about dementia.

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