James McDaid
Question:35 Dr. McDaid asked the Minister for Health the disabilities and illnesses which are exempt from the payment of the new hospital charges for persons outside the medical card scheme.
Written Answers. - Hospital Charges Exemption.
The following persons are exempt from the revised hospital in-patient and out-patient charges: medical card holders and their dependants; women receiving services in respect of motherhood; children up to the age of six weeks; children suffering from prescribed diseases and disabilities i.e. mental handicap, mental illness, PKU, cystic fibrosis, spina bifida, hydrocephalus, haemophilia and cerebral palsy, the exemption applies only to treatment for the prescribed condition; children referred for treatment from child health clinics and school health examinations; persons deemed to be persons with full eligibility by a chief executive officer under section 45 (7) of the Health Act, 1970, for the purposes of the services concerned (hardship clause); long-stay patients who are already being charged under the Health (Charges for In-patient Services) Regulations and persons receiving services in respect of prescribed infectious diseases. I will arrange to have the full list of these diseases published in the Official Report.
In addition, at the discretion of the chief executive officer of the relevant health board, either or both charges may be waived where the patient would be unable to pay them without undue hardship (e.g. someone marginally above the medical card income guidelines). With regard to the out-patient charge, I have suggested to the chief executive officers that, as a general guideline, the combined charges for any one family household should not exceed £60 in any period of twelve consecutive months.
Infectious Diseases
Persons receiving treatment for any of the following infectious diseases are exempt from both out-patient and in-patient charges:
Acute anterior poliomyelitis
Acute encephalitis
Acute viral meningitis
Anthrax
Bacillary dysentery
Bacterial meningitis (including meningococcal septicaemia)
Brucellosis
Cholera
Diphtheria
Food poisoning (bacterial other than salmonella)
Gastro enteritis (when contracted by children under two years of age)
Infectious mononucleosis
Infectious parotitis
Influenzal pneumonia
Legionnaires Disease
Leptospirosis
Malaria
Measles
Ornithosis
Plague
Rabies
Rubella
Salmonellosis (other than typhoid or paratyphoid)
Sexually transmitted diseases
Smallpox
Tetanus
Tuberculosis
Typhoid and Paratyphoid
Typhus
Vital haemorrhagic diseases (including lassa fever and marburg disease)
Viral hepatitis
Whooping cough
Yellow fever