IMO GPs respond to new information campaign by HSE on medical cards

“Nothing has changed except the spin” warns GPs

“How can you explain that nothing has changed to an elderly patient who is losing the card she is depended upon.”

Wednesday 30th October 2013. The GP Committee of the Irish Medical Organisation has strongly criticised the HSE’s new PR campaign to explain the criteria for dispensing medical cards, which was launched today.

Dr. Ray Walley, Chairman of the GP Committee of the IMO said that the HSE “spin” could not disguise the fact that the HSE was still committed to taking medical cards away from thousands of people who “have traditionally had a medical card and who are utterly dependent on them for their medical care.”

“The HSE is clinging desperately to their claim that the eligibility criteria haven’t changed but if the application of those criteria has changed – and it has – then they are as good as lying. That’s not good enough and the public won’t accept it.”

Dr. Walley said that the focus on eligibility criteria was a distraction; “How can you explain that nothing has changed to an elderly patient who is losing the card she is dependent upon. The bottom line remains that the HSE is withdrawing medical cards from people who have a huge dependency on them and this will cause untold misery and pain and hardship for thousands of people. Patients who lose their cards will also have to face significant costs in terms of medicines prescribed as well as the loss of other benefits.”

Dr. Walley also said that the budget target of €113 million in savings relating to medical card costs would result in a purge of medical card patients; “I fear widespread chaos over the coming months as the HSE start their “purge” of medical cards on foot of the budget directions. “