Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 12 December 2017
288. Deputy Fergus O'Dowd asked the Minister for Health the steps he will take in the case of daily charges being introduced in the venesection clinic in County Louth earlier in 2017 in order to ensure that persons with haemochromatosis do not avoid the clinic for financial reasons and subsequently put their health at risk; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52798/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Health Act 1970 (as amended) provides that all people ordinarily resident in the country are entitled, subject to certain charges, to public in-patient hospital services including consultant services and to public out-patient hospital services. Under the Health (In-Patients Charges) (Amendment) Regulations 2008, a person who has been referred to a hospital for an in-patient service, including that provided on a day case basis, will have to pay the statutory daily charge, currently €80 per day, up to a maximum of €800 per year. On this basis, where venesection is classed as a day case procedure and is not carried out in an out patient setting, the public in-patient charge applies. However, I am aware of this issue and have asked officials in my Department to examine it, including the particular points made by the Irish Haemochromatosis Association, and to provide me with advice.
