Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour)
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694. To ask the Minister for Health the number of WTE vacancies, by job title, at the HSE National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics; and the estimated full-year cost of filling these vacancies, in tabular form. [29583/23]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics (NCPE) was established in 1998 with the aim of promoting expertise in Ireland for the advancement of the discipline of pharmacoeconomics through practice, research and education. The NCPE is an independent Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Agency responsible for evaluating drug treatments for use in the Irish healthcare setting.

The NCPE conducts the HTA of drugs for the health service in Ireland in collaboration with the Health Service Executive's Corporate Pharmaceutical Unit.  They assess comparative clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of drugs compared to current standard of care. The NCPE engages with stakeholders, including patients and clinicians, throughout the assessment process.

The NCPE currently has 20.5 core funded full time whole time equivalents and this number of staff has remained unchanged since 2019. There are currently no vacancies at the NCPE for core funded staff.