Mr. Dermot Twomey:

I thank the Deputy for his question. As my colleagues have alluded to, probably the two areas that would make the most impact in the shortest term would be the ability to provide contraception without prescription and expanding the minor ailment triage scheme which allows pharmacy to deal with the least complicated cases in community pharmacy thereby freeing up general practice to deal with more complicated cases. I think people on the street would see it as a no-brainer as long as appropriate protocols are in place.

It is very important that there would be engagement on fees. As I mentioned earlier, by a June of this year the Minister needs to review the fees paid to community pharmacy. There has been no increase since 2008 and we have only seen decreases in that time. Fees are so important because in order for community pharmacy to provide these services we need to underpin it with a strong workforce and working team. That is why we need a realistic fee paid for the services and for dispensing. As my colleague Dr. O'Dwyer mentioned it has become more complicated. When I started 27 years ago, I could focus more on the clinical needs of the patient, whereas now my colleagues and I are increasingly focused on reimbursement approvals, which unfortunately is taking away from where we want to be.