Over-70s medical card system ‘madness’

ELDERLY people are being subjected to unnecessary confusion and worry because of a new system to process medical cards for over-70s which was described yesterday as “a form of madness”.

Politicians from both the Government and opposition sides have expressed frustration with the new centralised system, which makes it harder for them to help their constituents get access to cards which are no longer dealt with at a local level.

Older people are left waiting months and there have been cases of applications getting lost in the system.

The Oireachtas Health Committee heard yesterday that older people are being left on phone queues of 25 minutes when they first contact the application office and the telephone service.

“It’s been a disaster,” said Labour’s Kathleen Lynch. “They had a system that worked, there was no need to change it and now we have a system that doesn’t work.” Senior management at the Health Service Executive (HSE) are being called before the committee to explain the changes, as well as Age Action, which represents older people.

Fine Gael’s spokesperson on older people, Paul Connaughton, said the new system “over-penalises the people it’s supposed to be helping”.

He said: “We had a system all around the country where people were trained to do this,” and people had built up relationships with their local offices.

The HSE plans to centralise the processing of medical card applications for all age groups by April. But Mr Connaughton said “the place would turn upside down if that was allowed to happen”.

He said: “It will come up on the floor of the Dáil and Seanad every day for the next 12 months because it’s going to cause havoc.”

A number of Fianna Fáil TDs came close to agreeing with a Labour Party motion at the committee yesterday which called for a review of the centralised system. The party disagreed over whether Age Action should address the committee on the issue or whether this would open the floodgates for widespread complaints about it.

Fianna Fáil TD Charlie O’Connor said the committee should hear from the relevant groups. “I remain unconvinced that what is being done by the HSE is the right way forward,” he said.

Mr O’Connor pointed out TDs do not get medical cards for people who are entitled to them, but help those who are entitled to get them.

Mayo TD Beverly Flynn (Fianna Fáil) said: “The local system had worked very well in terms of access for the clients and also access for me as a public representative... I could contact the office and get information.”