Results 1,801-1,820 of 1,886 for speaker:Fergal Browne

Seanad: Pharmacy Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (22 Mar 2007)

Fergal Browne: I may have worded incorrectly a question I asked yesterday on existing pharmacists who lack the requisite qualifications. Section 14 requires that a pharmacist hold a qualification appropriate for his or her practice. I may have inadvertently claimed that hospital pharmacists are not qualified, which I certainly did not mean to imply, and I apologise for that mistake. I was trying to point...

Seanad: Pharmacy Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (22 Mar 2007)

Fergal Browne: The Minister informed us that half the people on blood pressure tablets should not be taking them and that half the people who were not on them, should be. She has spoken at length about the overuse of antibiotics, particularly at a time when she is in trouble over MRSA.

Seanad: Pharmacy Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (22 Mar 2007)

Fergal Browne: The Minister told me she would bring me to the Progressive Democrats party conference in Wexford too but she did not. I have received all these invitations after the event. The Minister has talked a lot about the overuse of antibiotics, rightly so. I agree with her on the rise in the incidence of MRSA. However, I do not see any action being taken by her to combat it.

Seanad: Pharmacy Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (22 Mar 2007)

Fergal Browne: It is because the section refers to the disposal of medicinal products and the manner in which such products must be sold or supplied. Is there scope in the section to include guidelines on the appropriate use of antibiotics which the Minister has said on numerous occasions are overprescribed and overused and a factor in the rise in the incidence of MRSA?

Seanad: Pharmacy Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (22 Mar 2007)

Fergal Browne: I did not receive a proper reply to my question. In the case of a pharmacy being aware of a doctor's over-prescription of antibiotics, is the onus on the pharmacists to inform on the doctor? Am I correct to assume there is no link between pharmacists and the Medical Council, which regulates doctors? Whenever the issue of MRSA is raised in this House, the abuse of antibiotics is discussed....

Seanad: Pharmacy Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (22 Mar 2007)

Fergal Browne: To whom?

Seanad: Pharmacy Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (22 Mar 2007)

Fergal Browne: This is a significant point. Patients find it quite intimidating to query a decision by a doctor. In general they are glad to receive advice from doctors and tend to assume that the latter are acting in their best interests. I refer to patients with the courage to question such matters and bring them to the attention of a pharmacist who then brings them to the attention of the...

Seanad: Pharmacy Bill 2007: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (22 Mar 2007)

Fergal Browne: I understand some pharmacists may have had their General Medical Service contracts revoked last year because they were unable to recruit an Irish graduate despite the fact they advertised for several months. What happens in the case of such pharmacists? As far as I know, section 31 relates to that.

Seanad: Pharmacy Bill 2007: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (22 Mar 2007)

Fergal Browne: The GMS contract.

Seanad: Pharmacy Bill 2007: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (22 Mar 2007)

Fergal Browne: The point concerns a public notice but will a sign go up in a pharmacy itself if, for example, a pharmacy was to be closed down? Would there be a newspaper advertisement?

Seanad: Pharmacy Bill 2007: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (22 Mar 2007)

Fergal Browne: The problem is if a pharmacy was to be closed down for a reason, the public might not be aware why it happened. It may have been closed for other reasons. Will a sign be clearly displayed in the pharmacy?

Seanad: Pharmacy Bill 2007: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (22 Mar 2007)

Fergal Browne: Will there be a notice indicating why it is closed down?

Seanad: Pharmacy Bill 2007: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (22 Mar 2007)

Fergal Browne: This pertains to a pharmacy being closed.

Seanad: Pharmacy Bill 2007: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (22 Mar 2007)

Fergal Browne: On a point of clarification, the amendment states, "share a common public entrance with each other". Would it be helpful to insert a provision stating, "if, in the case of (a) or (b), there is an arrangement of the kind described in subsection (2)"? Does the current provision only apply to (b)?

Seanad: Pharmacy Bill 2007: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (22 Mar 2007)

Fergal Browne: Unless we insert "in the case of (a) or (b)", the proposed section 64(1)(b)(ii) would relate only to (b) and exclude same premises.

Seanad: Pharmacy Bill 2007: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (22 Mar 2007)

Fergal Browne: I might leave the matter until Report Stage.

Seanad: Pharmacy Bill 2007: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (22 Mar 2007)

Fergal Browne: I would like to ask the Minister about a thought that has just struck me. Perhaps I should have raised it earlier in the debate, but I will try to sneak it in now. When a pharmacy is closed down, do its patients or customers have the right to access the information on their records?

Seanad: Pharmacy Bill 2007: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (22 Mar 2007)

Fergal Browne: The Minister has agreed to accept some amendments.

Seanad: Pharmacy Bill 2007: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (22 Mar 2007)

Fergal Browne: The Minister plans to make changes to the Bill in the Dáil and will she return to this House then?

Seanad: Pharmacy Bill 2007: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (22 Mar 2007)

Fergal Browne: I will agree to this arrangement but it is not the ideal way to do business. It is a bit presumptuous to have the Bill in the Dáil tomorrow in an incomplete form. The Minister is proposing changes to the Bill even before it goes before the Dáil.