Medical Care

If you are a national of an EU/EEA nation or Switzerland, you can apply for a European Health Insurance Card. This entitles EU nationals to access hospital services provided they have the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC). It means that you can get necessary healthcare in the public system of any EU/EEA country or Switzerland, if you become ill or injured while in that country. Further details on EHIC are available here.

Non-EU/EEA nationals can also apply for an EHIC card, provided they are ordinarily resident in Ireland and have made Pay Related Social Insurance contributions. They are also entitled to contract private health insurance and/or access the Irish Health Service in accordance with the rules governing work permits. More information on the Irish Health Service is available here.

Students ordinarily resident in Ireland and not from the EU/EEA or Switzerland have the same access as that described above; however, they are required to possess private health insurance on entry to Ireland. It is worth consulting with the university or higher education institution you intend attending for information on favoured suppliers who might provide a discount on insurance to students of that institution.

A General Practitioner (GP) is a doctor who provides health services to people in his/her surgery or in the patient’s home. If you do not have a Medical Card or a GP Visit Card you will have to pay for the service.

There are no set fees in Ireland for GP services. If you wish to check costs, contact your local surgery directly. At present, charges are approximately €60 per visit.

Anybody in Ireland with a medical emergency is entitled to attend the Emergency Department. A patient visiting the Emergency Department will either be treated and sent home or will be admitted to a ward as an in-patient.

Note: Different hospitals treat different sicknesses and emergencies, for example, maternity hospitals only treat maternity related emergencies while general hospitals will treat most emergencies.

Out-patient services generally include Emergency Department services as well as planned services, for example, specialist assessment by a consultant or diagnostic assessments such as x-rays, laboratory tests and physiotherapy.

In general, you may refer yourself to the Emergency Department of a public or voluntary hospital. You do not incur hospital charges if you are referred by a GP. You do not have to pay for consultants’ services but you do not have a choice of consultants. If you are a private patient you can choose the consultant.

If you are in a public ward under the care of a consultant for treatment and you remain overnight, you are receiving in-patient services. If you do not remain overnight you are receiving day services.

This will depend on your personal circumstances and also whether you are accessing ‘out-patient’ or ‘in-patient’ services.

If you go to the out-patients or Emergency Department of a public hospital without being referred there by your GP, you may be charged €100. This charge does not apply to the following groups:

• Medical card holders
• People receiving treatment for prescribed infectious diseases
• Children referred for treatment from child health clinics and school health examinations
• People who are entitled to hospital services because of EU Regulations
• Women receiving maternity services

In cases of excessive hardship, a HSE Area may provide the service free of charge.

If you have to return for further visits in relation to the same illness or accident, you do not have to pay the charge again.

The charge for in-patient/day services is €75 per day up to a maximum of €750 in a year. The charge does not apply to the following groups:

• Medical card holders
• People receiving treatment for prescribed infectious diseases
• People who are subject to “long stay” charges
• Children referred for treatment from child health clinics and school board examinations
• People who are entitled to hospital services because of EU Regulations
• Women receiving maternity services

In cases of excessive hardship, a HSE Area may provide the service free of charge.

Under the National Treatment Purchase Fund, public patients who are waiting longest for an operation or procedure on a public hospital in-patient or day case waiting list can have their operation in a private hospital.

Ashford House, Tara Street, Dublin 2

Lo-Call: 1890 720 820

The Drug Payment Scheme allows individuals and families who do not hold medical cards to limit the amount they have to spend on prescribed drugs. Under the Drug Payment Scheme, you will not pay more than €100 in any calendar month for approved prescribed drugs, medicines and appliances.

If you are ordinarily resident in Ireland, you are eligible to apply for the Drugs Payment Scheme. You can use the Drug Payment Scheme in conjunction with a Long Term Illness Book. Application forms are available from your local pharmacy or contact your local health centre for more information.

The Long-Term Illness Scheme allows people with certain conditions, who are not already medical cardholders, to obtain the medicines and medical and surgical appliances they require for the treatment of their condition, without charge. You do not have to satisfy a means test. The conditions included in the scheme are:

• Acute leukaemia
• Mental handicap
• Cerebral Palsy
• Mental illness (in a person under 16)
• Cystic fibrosis
• Multiple sclerosis
• Diabetes insipidus
• Muscular dystrophies
• Diabetes Mellitus
• Spina bifida
• Conditions arising from the use of Thalidomide

If approved, you will be issued with a long-term illness book. Your pharmacist will provide you with the necessary drugs free of charge.

The Health Service Executive provides free maternity services for the period of pregnancy and for 6 weeks after the birth. The service is provided by your GP. You must be ordinarily resident in Ireland to avail of this service.