Professor Bryan Lynch:

That stipulation came out of a recognition of a lack of available medical evidence for these products in a number of conditions. This is still true in my area of epilepsy. There is some medical evidence but we need an awful lot more. There was a recognition that if we were going to set up this programme, we should collect information. The Deputy is right. That would not be the norm and that requires administrative back up, etc., and more paperwork, which is an additional burden on the people providing prescriptions and their staff. It would not be the norm but there was a specific reason it was put in there and that is still a valid reason. It points to the need for resources to be put in place for people to collect, compile and process that information.