John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)

First, if I may, I want to mention two constituents of mine, Thomas McHugh and Louise Heaney, at least one of whom has been taken by Israel Defense Forces, following the actions of the IDF against the flotilla.

Our minds are very much with them. Their families and a lot of constituents have been in touch with my office this afternoon. I wanted to put their names on the record and say that we will do whatever we can to support them and their families through this. This is not the appropriate debate, however. I raised it. It was also raised with the European Union Commissioner, Maroš Šefčovič, who was before the trade and foreign affairs committee this morning.

Moving on to the pharmacy agreement, I welcome it. Previous speakers spoke about pharmacies. Certainly, I grew up with pharmacies in my parish and area. The relationship people had with their pharmacies was often akin to the relationships they had with the local postmaster or postmistress. Indeed, in my home parish of Ballyroan, where I am originally from, Mr. Michael Shannon, who has passed away, was the local pharmacist. His son, Criofan, continues that pharmacy in Ballyroan and Templeogue. The pharmacist who turns up at family funerals is the kind of connection a lot of pharmacies have with the people who come to their shops.

On several occasions when I have called into a pharmacy with a small ailment – thankfully not too often - I know the pharmacist knows what the answer is, but he or she does not have the legal right to either prescribe or dispense. A kind of generic over-the-counter response is given instead because they cannot use those qualifications, even though they have a fair idea of what it is.

I asked a local community pharmacist in my constituency for their thoughts on the agreement. They said the new changes around service provision are excellent and that the expansion of the role of pharmacists is brilliant. It allows for increased timely access to care for easily resolved health complaints, like thrush and cold sores. It will result in a reduced burden on GP appointments, which is really important in the city, given the number of people, particularly in expanding areas in my constituency, who cannot access or become part of a GP’s patient list. This pharmacist said that it actually empowers pharmacists and maximises the use of their qualifications, which is all in line with the Government, the Minister and Sláintecare’s vision for pharmacy. It makes every contact count.

With regard to some of the new initiatives like the stool screening, this pharmacist would have described that as a sub-optimal health incentive and it is great that this will see improved uptake through pharmacies. That is positive reaction from the ground.

There were pharmacists in this House from both my party and the Minister for Health’s party who made points in the past two Dáil terms about not using and maximising, as the pharmacists put it, the qualifications of pharmacists, which would take the strain off some of the other parts of the GP system. I commend the Minister on following through on this in a way that is going to have an impact.

Clearly, this agreement has been welcomed by the Irish Pharmacy Union. It has been in and around the Houses. I was a member of the health committee. Over the years, it may have felt like a poor relation in the health sector. This enhances its role and visibility.

I live in Dublin 16 and represent Dublin 16, 24 and 6W. While there was a time when there were late-night pharmacies out as far as Terenure, it is difficult enough now. Sometimes, people have to drive into the city. There are very few late-night pharmacies. I do not know whether this aspect is built into the agreement, but it would be nice to see. When people go to their GPs to get a prescription, it is often in the evening. The latest pharmacy locally for me opens until 8 p.m. I had to travel to Leonard’s Corner Pharmacy in the Chair’s constituency once or twice. There used to be late-night pharmacies, however. Will the Minister speak to the IPU about that? It has to be looked at because not everyone works a nine-to-five job and not every prescription is dispensed between 9 a.m. and 8 p.m.

This agreement represents a landmark development in our healthcare landscape. It is to be commended. The real thing that pharmacies have - and I notice it abroad - is that they are everywhere. In every little village and town where other services have been lost, the pharmacies still remain. While that is clearly in part because they prescribe medicine, they offer some other services as well. Pharmacists themselves would be interested in this.

One of the criticisms of this agreement that the same pharmacist to whom I spoke made was about the proposed fee obliteration. They see this as possibly leading to increased hospital admissions and hospitalisation. That is just some feedback from someone who is otherwise very positive on the agreement. We might get some justification and rationale as to why they think that.

To look at some of the features of the agreement, I commend the pharmacy union and all the pharmacists involved in it. I highlight the strategic collaboration that is contained in the agreement. The €75 million investment by the Government across this year and next year is significant in order to support pharmacists with those fee adjustments, develop the services they are going to offer and train pharmacists and upskill their teams.

I have mentioned the expansion of the clinical role, which is a really positive move. Community pharmacists will be able to contribute more actively to contraception services, immunisation programmes and that bowl screening initiative I spoke about. They will also help with the safe return and disposal of unused medicine. I agree with the previous speaker in that regard. All of us over the years have been given ointments, antiseptic creams or whatever from time to time for various things. They may sometimes have had an antibiotic element. Even the smallest tubes could satisfy the needs of a ten-person family for a decade with the volumes of creams contained in these. They sit in presses for years and years and there is nowhere to bring them back to safely dispose of them.

I also welcome that pharmacies will integrate with the National ePrescribing Project. Anything that joins the dots and maximises the use of data is very welcome, as is the national electronic health record. It makes a huge amount of sense. From people I dealt with in the last Dáil term, I know that if we are admitted, we want to get to the point where people have a card - cards are probably out of date - or some kind of contact with a phone that lets first responders know what kind of medications they are on, who their GPs are and, if applicable, who their consultants are and what operations they have had, as well as any medical devices they are carrying. The national electronic health record forms part of that, as well as enhancing the broader digital health record.

Rather than going on at length, I welcome the agreement. The Minister is not in office for a long time and she has delivered on commitments made by the past two Governments and the work done by her predecessor. I very much welcome the work involved and look forward to availing of and promoting it among my constituents so that they can avail of these enhanced services and facilities that will be available in their pharmacies.

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