Card holders ‘happy with health system’

Medical card holders are more likely to consider the healthcare system fit for purpose, a survey has revealed.

Sat, 25 Apr, 2015 - 01:00

Evelyn Ring

However, people who paid for their prescriptions and GP visits felt let down by the system, the survey conducted by the Irish Pharmacy Union found.

Other findings showed that almost a quarter of medical card holders visited their GP in the last week while just 14% of people with private health insurance and 4% of those who had neither a medical card nor insurance visited their GP over the same period.

The survey of 1,000 people was published to coincide with the IPU’s national conference in Killarney, Co Kerry, this weekend. It also found that more than three-quarters (78%) of people with medical cards were prescribed medication, compared with 68% of those with private health insurance and 65% with neither.

IPU president Kathy Maher said the survey found there was widespread satisfaction with pharmacy services, with 65% describing them as good value for money, compared to 35% for GPs and 8% for hospitals.

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Ms Maher said making a wider range of medicines available from pharmacies without prescription to treat common complaints would allow people to avoid the hassle and expense of an unnecessary GP visit, as happened in other countries.

“This makes sense, particularly as 93% of the public use pharmacies and rate their services very highly,” said Ms Maher.

The survey found that 88% thought their pharmacy was very accessible, compared with 77% for GPs and 23% for hospitals.

At the conference pharmacists will be calling on the Government to apply any plans to unwind the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest legislation for health professionals fairly to them.

Pharmacists believe they have been disproportionately impacted by the legislation that resulted in cuts to their income.

They will also call for an expansion of vaccination services available in pharmacies and for GMS patients to be able to get free emergency hormonal contraception quickly from a pharmacist without a prescription.