Dr. Susan O'Dwyer:

I will start with the minor ailments scheme. The Senator summed it up very well. There are some key issues there. It is the range of products that are available. More could be made available because there are products that are currently restricted to prescription only that are used in the treatment of conditions that are relatively minor, can be diagnosed in the pharmacy setting and treated safely by the pharmacist under protocol. There are also access issues for people with medical cards. There are products for which they do not need a prescription but they need a code or drug code and these are only supplied to patients with medical cards on foot of a prescription because that is the structure in place. Perhaps we could look at some of those HSE structures around direct reimbursement of pharmacies for that assessment and provision of treatment. That would make the service more equitable and more expansive to allow a greater range of minor conditions to be treated in a pharmacy and more access points for people to be seen quickly. That would free up capacity in the GP sector to allow GPs deal with more complex cases. Mr. Twomey might address the question about the shortage of medicines.