Medical Card Question

Gael23

I have a medical card and when I finish colllege in the summer I wont be living at home where my current GP is any longer but will still be entitled to keep my medical card for 3 years.
I have a great relationship with this doctor and as I get closer to finishing college, I've been thinking that I dont want to break that any time soon so I was wondering is there any way I can continue to see him?
I have a variety of long term medical issues so I would only want to see him every 3 months to manage all my prescriptions. I was in a situation where I had to see a different doctor some time ago and I just had to sign a form so maybe thats all I would have to do.

mp22

You can see your gp for as long as you like,one area where problems may appear is:what happens if you become unwell and cannot get to your gp (distance ect).You can use your medical card for 3 months while living outside your gp`s area after that you may have to change gp,s.

Gael23

mp22 wrote: »

You can see your gp for as long as you like,one area where problems may appear is:what happens if you become unwell and cannot get to your gp (distance ect).You can use your medical card for 3 months while living outside your gp`s area after that you may have to change gp,s.

Is there something whereby if you are in a different county you can see another doctor and you just have to sign a form? Once I was away and had reason to find a doctor and thats all I had to do.
Im fortunate that I dont need to go that often outside of my routine visits so maybe I could stay with him as is and just pay the fee if I ever get sick

danjo-xx

as mp22 said

If you move house
You can use your medical card for up to 3 months if you are living temporarily outside your Local Health Office area. In this case, you can attend any GP in the area participating in the medical card scheme.



If you are going to be away longer than 3 months, you should apply to the Local Health Office of that area for a medical card. If you move to a different part of your own Local Health Office area, you can apply to change your doctor.

Gael23

So that means that I will have to leave him then. I'd nearly be willing to pay to see him in that case. I've been looking at the department website and it seems that when this happens I will only get a GP visit card so will have to pay for my prescriptions regardless.
Since I started seeing this doctor, I'm better than I have been in the previous 10 years , hence why I want to keep seeing him.

donegal11

ryanf1 wrote: »

So that means that I will have to leave him then. I'd nearly be willing to pay to see him in that case. I've been looking at the department website and it seems that when this happens I will only get a GP visit card so will have to pay for my prescriptions regardless.
Since I started seeing this doctor, I'm better than I have been in the previous 10 years , hence why I want to keep seeing him.

I don't see how changing address would downgrade you to a GP card?

Gael23

donegal11 wrote: »

I don't see how changing address would downgrade you to a GP card?

Should have been clearer. My circumstances might soon change so it looks like I will be downgraded