Michael Healy-Rae
Ceist:57 Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Health if he will consider reverting to the older system of processing medical cards; that is, each county processes their applications. [24071/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraWednesday, 16 May 2012
Ceisteanna (63)
Freagraí scríofa
I acknowledge that a number of difficulties arose with the processing of medical cards at the centralised application office in the final quarter of last year. These difficulties gave rise to a very large backlog and long delays for both new applicants and medical card renewals. A number of factors gave rise to these problems including:
the processing of medical cards was centralised before the necessary resources were in place,
a significant backlog already existed prior to centralisation,
poor communication with medical card applicants and the public, limited support from local health offices and poor communication between local offices and the centralised service,
and poor practices and procedures in the handling, filing and processing of medical card documentation.
These issues were a matter of serious concern to me and I had a number of meetings with the HSE over the last six months to raise my concerns. As a result, the HSE has introduced a number of changes in recent months to the administration of the medical card application system. These include:
increased staffing levels in the centralised processing service and in respect of medical card appeals,
improvements to how medical card renewals are assessed and the frequency by which they are assessed,
increased flexibility for GPs to add certain categories of patients to their GMS list,
the fast-tracking of backlogged cases, and cases where documentation has been mis-filed.
While a number of customer service and communication issues remain to be addressed, the HSE has been making good progress in eliminating the backlog and preventing further backlogs occurring. A backlog of 58,000 applications from last year has been completely cleared. The HSE receives up to 50,000 applications per month and over 90% of complete applications are processed within 15 days. A review of medical card processing has been undertaken by PricewaterhouseCoopers which contains a number of recommendations that the HSE is considering.
I continue to monitor the situation and meet with the HSE on a regular basis to address any issues which may arise in respect of medical cards.
Question No. 58 answered with Question No. 10.
Question No. 59 answered with Question No. 43.