Medical Card Application Delays

guv999

Hi
Hoping to see what other peoples experiences are at present in relation to waiting times for medical cards.
I have been out of work since October and applied for a medical card straight away.
I already have a GP visit card which was reassessed a couple of months ago. Aside from proof of unemployment and revised income details I have submitted exactly the same information with this application as I did for the reassessment. I received my GP visit card within 15 working days.
When I check on line it advises that my application is in progress and that if I have not heard anything by 25th November to contact HSE.
We are obviously well beyond the 25th November and whenever I call in I get the same response from the staff:

• We have a slight backlog at the moment
• Call back in 5 days
• We cannot advise you of anymore than the website.

I have even highlighted to them that they have a target of 15 working days which is now well expired, and that the HSE themselves have stated that there is currently no delay in applications (source: Irish Medical Times 24th November)
They do seem to worry a bit when I mention this and always put me on hold - when they come back, they advise me to wait another five days.
When I attempt to escalate there is never anyone available to take my call.
Has anyone else had (or is having) similar experience with their application? If you escalated the issue how did you do it? Despite all the denials made by HSE I cannot help but wonder if indeed they have chosen to slow down the application progress.
Really appreciate any help, I usually have to pay €120 a month for medications so if I can avoid this for December all the better.

assasins creed

im waiting since the end of september got a letter of them on the 18th of last month for missing info and all it says on the website recieved the info on the 25th of nov called them just the other day and they said it could be the 23rd of this month before i hear of anything

boogeyman

In the same boat as ye lads - I'm waiting since the end of July. I've had numerous letters and a few phone calls.

Gonna send them another letter this week as I haven't been rejected, just my application is still being reviewed by managers etc. Very frustrating....

guv999

Called again for an update and the responses I a getting are ever more ridiculous.

I was again advised that my request was pending approval and I should call back in a few days
I explained that the application was well over due now and that I would not wait any longer.
I asked for verification if they could confirm how long the backlog was and what dates were currently being processed.
The response was that they do not have access to that information
I also asked how many applications were outstanding and, and if processing rates were consistent. I was again told that the information is not available.
I find this hard to believe at is basic call centre//customer service reporting. Having work in contact centres for 15 years - this is the information I would have every day.
The HSE spokespeople who claim that there is no backlog have the morals of a rattle snake, they have no respect for the public at all.

zef

Hey I sympathise.
I applied in August, just found out on their website a few mins ago i was approved.
I am on disability & was having to pay for meds weekly as i have a LTI. In fact i dropped the most expensive med (80e a month) and get by on the others at 60e a month.
Keep haunting them with phone calls. I was fed up ringing them & using a load of credit so check if there are citizins info places you can make these calls for free there if its a problem for anyone. They should have a freephone number!

I have it on good authority (a gp, 2 pharmacists, my consultant) all told me that the dept for processing med cards was 'slowing things down' - so that WE will be the ones to pay for urgent or even ongoing medical care until they issue us with the flippin things.
G'luck with it. Govt. Departments are infuriating...

danjo-xx

I'm waiting since August for mine to be renewed but at least they keep extending my eligibility end date by another month at the end of each month so still covered at least but it's damn annoying.

woodoo

They closed the regional medical card offices on the promise of a 15 day turn around for new medical card applications in the new central office in Finglas. They have failed miserably.

guv999

I finally received an email confirmation confirming my card had been issued yesterday and have checked with the GP and it is now on their records too.:D
My advise to anyone else waiting would be to escalate matters and to make it clear that whilst your request has gone well beyond the 15 day target you are well aware that the HSE have made several statements in the Media recently that there is no backlog whilst your case is over due.
Although I always found the call centre staff willing, they appear to be operating without full insight and cannot see much more than we can on line. I understand that they are an outsource call centre and not the HSE themselves.
If they advise you call back in a couple of days, or five days etc ask them precisely why they believe that will make a difference to your case. If they are vague do not accept the explanation and demand escalation.
Push them to escalate your case and refer to a Supervisor if you need to.
I also contacted others directly, such as Paddy Burke (head of that part of the HSE) and Roisin Shortall's office (Minister for that part of the HSE) as there is no other clear path of escalation
Throughout keep stressing that publicly it is claimed that there is no backlog.
Good luck to anyone else waiting and keep escalating.

danjo-xx

Mine was finally approved today on their website valid for 2yrs now, glad that's all sorted.

Kristopherus

zef wrote: »

Hey I sympathise.
I applied in August, just found out on their website a few mins ago i was approved.
I am on disability & was having to pay for meds weekly as i have a LTI. In fact i dropped the most expensive med (80e a month) and get by on the others at 60e a month.
Keep haunting them with phone calls. I was fed up ringing them & using a load of credit so check if there are citizins info places you can make these calls for free there if its a problem for anyone. They should have a freephone number!

I have it on good authority (a gp, 2 pharmacists, my consultant) all told me that the dept for processing med cards was 'slowing things down' - so that WE will be the ones to pay for urgent or even ongoing medical care until they issue us with the flippin things.
G'luck with it. Govt. Departments are infuriating...

If you have a LTI , you may be better off applying for a LTI Card. To be entitled to this card , your LTI must be one of those listed on www.hse.ie (do the A-Z search to get LTI). The big advantage of the LTI card is that it is the nature of the LTI rather than Income limits the give an entitlement. Once this entitlement is established, the card will cover in full all the drug costs, which can be very sustantial in LTI cases. The card is usually for life.

On the question of timescale for processing, the situation is that from 1st July all applications are processed centrally in Finglas. What people will not know is that there are now only about a third of the staff that were previously employed in the local offices, now employed in the central office. Delays will now become the norm, I'm afraid.

wmpdd3

We applied in October, still havent even received a reference number.

We contacted them 3 times by the website, still havent got a reply. Need to call them.

mlumley

Hi.
I started a thread about a month ago on exactly this problem. I read that the HSE is delaying giving out medical cards to save €3million and will give them out in the new year.

I contacted HSE and like you got the runarround. S|ent in docs, got text off them telling me will be processed. Nothing came. Contacted them again told not recieved any aplkication from me and they will send out forms. Never came.

Phoned twice or three times more, same thing.

Went to TD, guesse what, i got it within 3 weeks.

Go see your TD's, your health should not be comprimised to save HSE money, you are entitled to it.

Good Luck to you all.

bridan90

My daughter's medical card application was sent by mistake to the Ballybofey office in October but realising our mistake we called the office and they told us it had been forwarded on to the proper department.

My daughter is suffering from a serious condition of her knees and hips that is going to need ongoing treatment. We requested that her application be fast tracked. A letter was faxed by her doctor to the medical card office in Dublin on the 8th of November this was obviously ignored because no acknowledgement was sent back to us or the doctor!

In December my daughter received a letter threatening to cancel her application because it was claimed she had not signed the hard copy. Although I had spoken several times to people from the Medical Card department in the month of November and never ONCE was this mentioned. I know for a fact that she DID sign that document.

However the signature along with a letter of complaint was sent back immediately still no response!

My daughter is suffering financial hard ship and under a considerable amount of stress because she has to make regular visits to doctors, she has had to have blood tests done, the last bill from the doctor was €60 she cannot afford this as she is a student and her college work is suffering because she is in so much pain that somedays she cannot attend college.


She is to be referred to a Rheumatologist. Despite emails, faxes and phone calls they have persistently ignored my daughter. Every time I call they take my telephone number and say someone will get back to me they never do! My daughter has been treated atrociously by this department and I cannot stress enough how angry myself and my family feel about this callous treatment of my daughter. I don't think people should accept this situation and something should be done about this.

I have made an official complaint and if I do not get a satisfactory reply in the near future I intend taking it to the ombudsman.