Ms Michele Tait:

The published price in the report is the cost price. It is the list price of the medications we use to treat patients and is the price before we apply any rebate we receive from the drug companies. We procure drugs with a public tender, of which there have been two so far. The figure is the cost to the hospital providing the treatment but the HSE has rebate arrangements which we negotiate with the pharmaceutical companies as part of the procurement process.