Mr. Shaun Flanagan:

I cannot talk about mail order in general because there is a policy around changing legislation. In terms of healthwave, however, the HSE would welcome any price competition in the market. We have made it clear that we set prices for reimbursement and for the schemes, but we do not set prescription prices. Any competition is welcome but we would want to be cognisant that there is a completely different model. We have a population of 4.6 million with 1,800 pharmacies.

If one takes it that the average pharmacy probably covers a population of 2,500 people, such a pharmacy might have 1,000 patients. The Healthwave model, as reported by itself, involves 10,000 patients paying a fee of €25 upfront. Members can see clearly that it is a different model and there is a choice for society in this regard. If one needs 10,000 people to run that model, then perhaps one only needs one tenth of the number of pharmacies and that is not a model the HSE necessarily would support 100%. I know myself that with children, if one needs a prescription late at night and one is in Cork, west Clare where I am from or wherever, one will want a local pharmacy at which one can get a prescription for that child and get it quickly to avoid a hospital admission. If one is in the unfortunate position of having a family member who is coming home to spend his or her last few days with one and if one needs access to opiates of whatever, one will not be going to a pharmacy in south Dublin with a huge population around it. That model is built on chronic patients with no changes whatever and our pharmacy model delivers a great deal more than does the other type of model.

However, I reiterate there is nothing wrong with competition. We welcome the pricing competition and people can then make their choices.