{"id":544019,"date":"2026-07-11T06:27:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T06:27:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/544019\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T06:27:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T06:27:20","slug":"hse-pauses-issuing-some-services-including-medical-and-long-term-illness-cards-due-to-cyberattack-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/544019\/","title":{"rendered":"HSE pauses issuing some services, including medical and long-term illness cards due to cyberattack \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/health-service-executive-hse\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/health-service-executive-hse\/\">Health Service Executive<\/a> has paused issuing plastic medical cards, European Health Insurance Cards (EHIC), GP visit cards, drugs payment scheme cards and long-term illness cards after a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/cybersecurity\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/cybersecurity\">cyber attack<\/a> on its card provider.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">In a statement on Friday, the executive confirmed it had been \u201calerted by an external provider of card printing services of a cyberattack on their systems\u201d. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cAs a result, and in line with our cyber security practices, the HSE\u2019s cyber security protocols were immediately activated. HSE [computer] systems were not compromised. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cIt is understood that a small number of HSE records were accessed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">A spokeswoman for the HSE said the breach had been reported to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/data-protection-commissioner\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/data-protection-commissioner\/\">Data Protection Commissioner<\/a> (DPC) and the executive was \u201cworking with the external provider to review the small amount of data impacted\u201d. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cIn line with the data protection legislation, we will notify individuals whose data may have been impacted. The HSE takes all breaches of data protection seriously and manages all breaches in line with data protection legislation and HSE policy,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">As a result of the breach, the production of plastic cards, including EHIC cards, had been paused. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cThe HSE has ensured that there is no reduction or change in the service that people receive. Provisional replacement certificates providing the same entitlement to healthcare while abroad are being provided instead of plastic EHIC cards. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cEHIC cards for adults are available through the HSE Health App which can be downloaded through the app store and Google Play.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Processing of applications for medical cards (and other health service schemes) is managed directly by the HSE and individuals\u2019 eligibility is not affected. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cApplicants will receive a letter confirming their eligibility for the relevant scheme. All service providers (GP, pharmacies etc) have and normally use a digital channel to verify eligibility for any scheme. As a result, there is no impact on access to healthcare services.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">All applications for medical cards and all other health service schemes including EHIC are being processing as normal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">If anyone is concerned or has a query about their application, they can contact 0818 224 478.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">A spokesman for the DPC said the commission had \u201creceived a breach notification from the HSE in relation to this matter. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cThe breach is currently being assessed,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Health Service Executive has paused issuing plastic medical cards, European Health Insurance Cards (EHIC), GP visit cards,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":37054,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,3312,68087,1418,61,60],"class_list":["post-544019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-cybersecurity","tag-data-protection-commissioner","tag-health-service-executive-hse","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=544019"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544019\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=544019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=544019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=544019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}