Vol. 532 No. 2
135 Mr. McGuinness asked the Minister for Health and Children the reasons payments were requested from a person (details supplied) in County Carlow who was a public patient at the District Hospital Carlow for two years up to her death in August 1998; the further reason her mother had to supplement these payments; and if a refund of these payments is now due. [7021/01]
Charges for hospital care can be made under the Health (Charges for In-Patient Services) Regulations, 1976, as amended by the Health (Charges for In-Patient Services) (Amendment) Regulations, 1987. These regulations enable charges to be made towards the cost of providing hospital in-patient services for persons with income who have been in receipt of such services for more than 30 days or for periods totalling more than 30 days within the previous 12 months.
Medical card holders are exempt from these charges, and are entitled to a full range of services including general practitioner services, prescribed drugs and medicines, all in-patient public hospital services in public wards including consultants services, all out-patient public hospital services including consultants services. In practice, however, persons in health board long-stay care do not usually hold medical cards as the hospital takes responsibility for all of the person's health needs. Persons with dependants are also exempt.
In deciding the amount to be contributed health boards have regard to the person's individual circumstances. Allowance is made for any financial commitments the person may have and a reasonable amount is left to meet the person's personal needs. Charges may be waived if, in the opinion of the chief executive officer of the appropriate health board, payment would cause undue hardship. The application of the charges concerned rests with the chief executive officer of the South Eastern Health Board.
