Generic medical card numbers are often used by Practitioners when a valid GMS number cannot be obtained for a patient at the time of issuing prescriptions e.g. service users. The purpose of these cards is for emergency use but limits patients access to individual reimbursement services as it is not possible to distinguish individual patient eligibility criteria.
Often these patients hold or are entitled to a medical card. Such patients should be directed to the social inclusion office for them to obtain their own personal medical card number where applicable. Medical card applications are turned around in a very short timeframe for exceptional circumstances e.g. persons in emergency accommodation or homeless services.
