Edward Nealon
Question:113 Mr. Nealon asked the Minister for Health the number of medical cards which were on issue in the North Western Health Board in each year since 1985.
Written Answers. - Medical Card Statistics.
Statistics regarding medical cards are collected on a monthly basis by the General Medical Services (Payments) Board and the figures requested by the Deputy are:
North-Western Health Board.
|
On 31st December |
Cards Current |
|
1985 |
59,934 |
|
1986 |
58,969 |
|
1987 |
58,566 |
|
1988 |
55,650 |
|
1989 |
53,975 |
|
1990 |
54,037 |
Prior to the introduction in March 1989 of the capitation based system of payment for doctors participating in the GMS each health board carried out a review to eliminate the cards of deceased card holders and other invalid cards from their registers. This exercise resulted in a reduction of the number of medical cards during that period.