Dr. Susan O'Dwyer:

That medication needs to be prescribed in the initial instance by a consultant obstetrician. A woman has to go to hospital to see that consultant and then get the medication approved by him or her.

Subsequent GP prescriptions can be authorised and supplied but we believe this is a barrier to accessing that particular medication. We are talking about women in their first trimester who may not have ready access to a consultant and women with different abilities to pay having different access levels. The restriction to that consultant only and the requirement to have specific approval before the medication can be supplied through the pharmacy is a barrier and we would like this looked at.