Mr. Darragh O'Loughlin:

Some patients are uncertain about generic medicines. Also, some research conducted by the University of Limerick two or three months ago suggested some doctors were a little uncertain about such medicines. However, all of the medicines have been assessed, regulated and licensed by the HPRA on the same basis as proprietary branded medicines. When patients are uncertain, it is usually because it looks or tastes different, but pharmacists can reassure them that the tablets have been produced to the same high quality. Once they receive that reassurance from the pharmacist, the majority are comfortable to continue taking them.

On the drug card used in Denmark, in order for something like it to be rolled out in Ireland, we need unique identifiers for patients. For a shared health record of patients, every patient, every health professional and every premises from which health services are delivered must be uniquely identifiable. The Health Identifiers Bill is due to pass shortly and when in place will be the first key step in putting in place the infrastructure required. The question was asked whether we had started talking to anybody about that shared drug record. We have been in discussions with the Department of Health on how it proposes to implement an electronic health records system. As a stakeholder, we have made ourselves available for all of the discussions to be held and the Department has agreed to include us in its stakeholder engagements. We will bring our expertise to bear and what we know from our colleagues around Europe.

Similar to the system operating in Denmark, French pharmacists have a system whereby if a patient slots his or her card into the card reader in the pharmacy, the pharmacist can see not only all of the medicines the patient has been prescribed and which have been dispensed to him or her but also any over the counter medicine the patient has bought because the system allows pharmacists to make a record of non-prescription medicines purchased. This is an essential patient safety measure and I hope we can move towards such a system. We were probably a little slow in putting the basic infrastructure in place, but we will have the unique identifier system soon and the health information Bill will follow. Once these are in place, there is no reason we cannot start working on having such a system. In one way, because we are slow, we can benefit as a result of identifying some of the pitfalls identified in other countries. The NHS has spent billions, if not tens of billions, on a system that probably does not work; therefore, we now know what not to do.

I will not argue with Deputy Doherty. It is a little like groundhog day and I am aware that many others and I have said similar things previously. We have learned that progress is slow and incremental and that great patience is required to see change. The Minister of State with responsibility for primary care, Deputy Alex White, came to our conference in mid-May and said he was extremely open to the idea of introducing new services through pharmacies. He was particularly anxious to see us come forward and identify the services that could be introduced quickly without legislative change or with the minimum change possible. That is the reason we chose the two I have referred to as a starting point. We intend to return to the Minister of State or to whoever will hold that position to engage on these two services and explain that we can deliver on them now. The minor illness scheme should be cost neutral to the Exchequer because patients are entitled to have these medicines. All we are trying to do is to streamline the process by which they access these medicines.