Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The background to this decision is that the lidocaine patches are licensed for localised post-shingle pain in adults. As I said earlier, this is the only licensed use in Ireland. When the plasters were first introduced the budget impact was low because it was prescribed only where appropriate and in line with specific indications for which it is licensed. It is, however, a cause of clinical concern and a real patient safety concern, that usage spiralled so much that we reached the point where there were ten times as many patches in use in Ireland per head of population. Details of the changes were circulated to prescribers and pharmacies in August 2017 to give clinicians time to inform their patients about the changes and where appropriate to change the treatment or to seek continued treatment. Under these new arrangements all patients who are receiving lidocaine plasters for a licensed indiction were automatically approved. All of these patients continue to receive the treatment under the community drug schemes. Patients who had been prescribed lidocaine plasters for other indications were given a three month grace period. Doctors were informed in August and the changes came in during November and December.

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