Medical cards processed in '15 days'

Medical card applications for those aged over 70 years will from now on be processed within 15 days, down from the current waiting time of 12-16 weeks, Minister for Health Mary Harney has confirmed.

This follows widespread complaints by GPs and other groups that patients were being forced to wait months to obtain or renew cards, and that concerned applicants were unable to contact the office by telephone.

In a letter to the chairman of the Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children, Fianna Fáil TD Sean O'Fearghail, Ms Harney said a number of measures had been introduced to tackle the problems affecting the system since it was centralised at the HSE's office in Finglas, Co Dublin last year.

She said where all relevant information has been provided to the Finglas office, medical cards would be processed within 15 days. All HSE local health offices will now, for the first time, have access to a national database on medical cards, which will allow them track the status of current applications.

GPs will now be able get weekly updates of applications, Ms Harney said in the letter, which was published today.

A new simplified declaration review process for card holders has also replaced the "more onerous" application review form, she said.

The new central office in Finglas has issued 121, 468 medical cards since January last year. The processing of all medical card applications is scheduled to be transferred to the Finglas office in September.

Welcoming the measures, Mr O'Fearghail said the committee was "extremely anxious" that the problems at the office were ironed out before plans to centralise all applications were introduced later this year.

“Medical cards are an essential component of many people's lives and any delay or unavailability of this vital resource is just not good enough,” he said.

The committee intended to monitor the situation to ensure that improvements were maintained, he added.

Labour’s health spokeswoman Jan O’Sullivan also welcomed the measures taken to improve the system. However, she claimed the delays had arisen from the decision to centralis the process “without proper planning and with the removal of all local involvement in the process”.