Results 1-18 of 18 for drugs segment:8769810

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (29 Nov 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: ...required to fund the total cost of claims which will be settled in respect of 2023. Subhead L1 relates to the primary care reimbursement service and local demand-led schemes at €109 million. The primary care reimbursement service, PCRS. administers a number of demand-led schemes such as the general medical services schemes, community demand-led schemes, and the national drug...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (29 Nov 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: ...;65 or €70 and the other associated costs. I hope that makes a difference. We have rolled out free contraception and free IVF. We have abolished inpatient hospital charges and significantly reduced the drug payment scheme maximums from, I think, €124 to €80. I agree with the Deputy's comments on an ongoing reduction in costs for patients. I think we have seen a...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (29 Nov 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: I have a table with me, which I will look to if the Deputy does not mind. Here are some of the inflationary pressures: medical and surgical supplies at approximately 23% this year versus last year; drugs and medicine at 18%; laboratory costs at 16%; and cleaning and washing at approximately 14%. We believe these numbers will decrease next year. A 23% year-on-year price growth was not...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (29 Nov 2023)

Gino Kenny: My final question is on a matter I raised in the Chamber a number of weeks ago, namely, the cutbacks in funding for new drugs and treatments, in particular cancer treatments. Even Mr. Bernard Gloster recently stated that this issue would result in a significant slowdown in the further development of clinical programmes, which would not be good whatsoever. A cohort of people rely on these...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (29 Nov 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: ...agreement on it. There are biosimilars to which we can switch. There are some big biologic medicines that we spend a great deal of money on. If we can quickly switch to biosimilars and from patented to generic drugs, there are material savings to be had. The commitment I have given is that any of those savings will be reinvested in new medicines and therapies next year.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (29 Nov 2023)

Gino Kenny: Will the Minister repeat that? He said €3.2 billion is spent on drugs per year.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (29 Nov 2023)

Mary Butler: ...people with medical cards and 185,000 discretionary cards, so 1.8 million people have medical cards. A huge proportion of those are older people who would depend very much on their medical card for drugs. That also includes the drugs payment scheme, where families can pay up to €80 a month for the drugs they get from the pharmacy. All of that is factored in as well. We are...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (29 Nov 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: ...State had already been subsidising private IVF. The medicines required for IVF might cost in the region of €6,000 to €9,000. The amount a couple has to pay for €6,000 or €9,000 worth of drugs is €80. They get it in one month or it might be over two months, in which case the State is providing, say, €8,000 worth of medicine for €80. There...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (29 Nov 2023)

Gino Kenny: That is a good thing. I hope people are reassured by what the Minister has said, particularly people who were hoping to get access to these new medicines. They can get access to the drug their GP or their specialist recommended or they can get a biosimilar. That is really important because people have written to me, and I am sure written to all TDs, because they are very worried they...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (29 Nov 2023)

Seán Crowe: .... A colonoscopy is quite common to try to ascertain if someone has cancer of the bowel, colon and so on. Could it be looked at at some stage? I know it is probably outside the Estimates but a bit like new drugs, maybe this could be looked at? I know there has been some controversy about it. There are other preparations that are available and are probably much cheaper but probably not...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (29 Nov 2023)

Seán Crowe: My final point does not relate to this case, but it is worrying that more people are turning to the Internet and buying drugs online. They are putting their lives in danger with some of the stuff they are buying. I am glad the issue was raised and the Minister is looking at it.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (29 Nov 2023)

Bernard Durkan: Is it possible to identify the number and variety of drugs under investigation, as is usual, how many are generic, the particular conditions to which they are likely to apply, and how urgently that is issue being dealt with? I am talking about identifying the patient type and profile and accelerating the speed with which they can have access to the new drugs. The testing of drugs is...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (29 Nov 2023)

Bernard Durkan: That is to give us a profile of how matters are progressing, what is waiting insofar as new drugs are concerned, the potential conditions to which they apply, and the impact they are likely to have on the health conditions of patients. A lot of work has been done on child and adolescent mental health, etc., and the Minister of State has done a huge amount of work in that area, which is...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (29 Nov 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: ...to respond on what we think is likely to happen next year. The Deputy will be aware that we are observing very high inflation this year. It depends area by area. Medical and surgical devices, drugs and medicines, catering and heating are different but we are looking at a range of figures - 10%, 17%, 23%. I will ask the officials to give a view on our best guess as to what might happen...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (29 Nov 2023)

...McGirr: Two thirds of the acute expenditure is non-pay. That is driven by a mixture of price and volume. That is the key thing - it is both. Price increases will include, say, more expensive drugs than were previously used. It is not just inflationary but also an increase in price.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (29 Nov 2023)

John Lahart: .... Will the Minister give a flavour of those, even if it is just for colour? He is a man who would clearly dig his heels in. On a subject close to my heart, I chair a cross-party group on new drugs and rare diseases. There is a concern that there is no increase in the allocation for new drugs. Will the Minister comment on that? The Minister of State, Deputy Butler, kindly visited...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (29 Nov 2023)

Seán Crowe: The issue of new drugs was raised earlier.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (29 Nov 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: ...a new rare disease strategy. Advocacy groups such as Rare Diseases Ireland are very involved. We are pulling people into this. Something we need for that is funding for new medicines, orphan drugs. We intend going after that in a very hard-nosed manner by finding savings in that €3.2 billion figure. The work has already started and will be governed under the productivity task...