Pringle calls blood test charges for medical card patients ‘shocking’

By Thomas Pringle
Updated: 25th May 2023

Independent TD for Donegal, Thomas Pringle, says he has received complaints regarding some GPs charging elderly medical card patients for routine blood tests.

Deputy Pringle said: “This is shocking, and the HSE should not tolerate this situation.”

The deputy said he knows a patient in their 80s who has been told that they can go to Letterkenny University Hospital to get bloods taken or else pay the GP for it.

The deputy said: “The most vulnerable people are being targeted with these unfair charges. The HSE are saying they will investigate incidents, but it is not fair to put vulnerable patients at a point of conflict with their doctor.”

In response to a representation from the deputy, the HSE said that where the practice-based phlebotomy service forms part of the investigation and necessary treatment of a patient’s symptoms or conditions by the patient’s GP, the service should be provided free of charge where the patient is a medical card or GP visit card holder. GPs cannot charge eligible patients for these phlebotomy services, the HSE said.

The HSE also said that it is the GP’s contracted responsibility to provide proper and necessary treatment to eligible persons. If part of that proper and necessary treatment includes phlebotomy, the GP must provide that service free of charge.

The HSE said they will fully investigate any reported incidents of eligible patients being charged for this service. They said any patients who feel they have been incorrectly charged for routine blood tests by their GP can report the matter to the HSE via Your Service Your Say, and the HSE will carry out an investigation into each complaint and, where appropriate, arrange for a refund of charges found to be incorrectly applied by a GP.

Deputy Pringle said: “If GPs are in dispute with the HSE about payment, they should not be targeting vulnerable patients to make their case.”