Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

I am taking this Adjournment on behalf of the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Harney.

The profession of pharmacy has undergone a dynamic change since the Pharmacy Act was enacted in May 2007. Pharmacy graduates are obliged to complete six months post-qualification training before they are eligible to become registered pharmacists. This course of study, supervised work experience and examination is conducted by the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland in conjunction with hospitals and community pharmacists.

According to the society the cost of the pre-registration training, up to this time, has been borne by practising pharmacists and pharmaceutical assistants through their annual registration fees. The society's position is this situation may have been acceptable when the number of graduates was relatively low at 50 graduates a year, from one pharmacy school. However, there are now up to 170 graduates a year from three pharmacy schools and the former arrangement is no longer tenable. Furthermore, the society points out that no other health care profession funds the vocational training of graduates at the expense of the practising profession.

The society undertakes a substantial and comprehensive service for the management and administration of the pre-registration training programme. The running of a postgraduate programme requires it to provide services in admissions and registration, student records and examinations office, academic quality assurance and academic support office and a student support office.

The society is a self-financing body. In arriving at a new pre-registration fee, it felt the full management and administrative costs associated with running a national education function in the society must be covered as it has no other source of funding available.

Pre-registration pharmacy students are employed, either in the hospital or retail pharmacy sectors, and earn a salary during their vocational training. Viewed in this light, the fee level of €1,500, which is in line with the third level student registration fees approved as part of the 2009 budget, cannot be considered excessive. This fee will be applied by the society in the same manner as the registration fee in the higher education sector.

The society has commissioned a review of pharmacy education in Ireland, the pharmacy education and accreditation reviews, PEARS, project. The final report from the project is due in early 2010 and interim reports on a quality review of the pre-registration training year and on accreditation models are due in March and November 2009, respectively. In this regard, the pre-registration fee may be regarded as an interim measure until a new model of training is agreed and in place for all pharmacy students.