Emergency medical cards

An emergency medical card is a medical card you can get without a means test if you are in certain emergency situations.

You can get an emergency medical card if you:

• Have a terminal illness and have been told you have 24 months or less to live or
• Are receiving end-of-life treatment, or
• Need urgent ongoing care and urgently need a medical card

Only a healthcare professional (for example, a doctor, consultant or social worker) can apply for an emergency medical card for you. They must send the following to the HSE:

• A detailed medical report
• Your planned treatment and the prognosis (outlook)
• An emergency medical card application (MC1e) form (pdf.) including your diagnosis

If you have a terminal illness and have been told you have 24 months or less to live, your consultant will only need to send a completed Terminal Illness Consultant Certified Application (MC1t) form (pdf). A medical report is not required.

You can get a medical card if you have a terminal illness and have been told you have 24 months or less to live. See applying for an emergency medical card above.

If you have a terminal illness your emergency medical card will never be reviewed and it will not expire.

You will get a medical card if you have a terminal illness and you are receiving end-of-life treatment. End-of-life treatment means you have been told you have less than 12 months left to live.

See applying for an emergency medical card above. A medical officer will process the application straight away.

If you have a terminal illness and you are receiving end-of-life treatment your emergency medical card will never be reviewed and it will not expire.

Read about palliative care and end of life treatment.

You may be able to get a temporary medical card for 6 months if you need urgent ongoing care and need a medical card sooner than the normal processing time.

See applying for an emergency medical card above.

Before your emergency medical card expires you will need to apply for a standard means-tested medical card. The HSE will write to you to remind you to do this.

Your emergency medical card number will be active on the HSE system within 24 hours of your application being processed. This means that you can access medical card services while you wait for your card in the post.

You should receive your emergency medical card in the post in 10 days.

For more information, phone the National Medical Card Unit on 01 864 7100 or LoCall 0818 22 44 78 or email clientregistration@hse.ie

You can find more about medical cards.