Kate O'Connell (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I was expecting a child when I believe I may have been in the first tranche of recipients. It was said that pharmacists would not want to give injections to people but we all got over it. How will the role of the pharmacist in the community be expanded to prevent this 60% of admissions that are based on medication errors?

I know I am boring everybody to tears, but some of the things that happen are so common. Someone seeing a consultant in a private hospital, for example, and does not think that he or she needs to tell his or her GP in Clare what is going on with the cardiologist in Dublin. They then go somewhere else to get something else done. They then get a prescription in one pharmacy, and get the other one in the pharmacy beside the private hospital. They go home and are taking three times the medication they should be on. This is common. I get worried when we talk about citizens' assemblies and such matters when we have not focused on why people are turning up in emergency departments. Accidents and emergencies happen. However, if we invested in the prevention of man-made errors, we could free up capacity in our system.