Terry Brennan (Fine Gael)

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. I agree wholeheartedly with the objective of the Bill and the question of promoting competition between suppliers and introducing interchangeable medicines to ensure greater value for money. This puts the onus on patients to opt for cheaper generic medicines. We all require the cheapest drugs and greater savings are in all our interests. I refer to the costs of similar drugs in Northern Ireland, a point I have raised in the House before. Significant savings can be made if people go for generic or branded drugs. These may be the same drugs from the same manufacturers and the same distributors but the difference in cost between North and South is inexplicable. Does the Minister of State have an opinion on the price difference between North and South? The cost of drugs is such that families from the midlands and further south go north and, while they are there, they fill their boots with groceries.

I refer to the substitution of generic drugs. I have attended warfarin clinics, where people arrive in the morning before they go to work and wait for two hours for a blood test. Everyone is advised to come to the clinic at the same time. Something must be done. The patient is there for hours and we must also consider the time of nurses, technicians and the time it takes to check the blood count. A significant period of time is involved to determine the increase or decrease in warfarin intake. Branded drugs are available but are more expensive than warfarin. I attended a clinic where 30 or 40 people attended at the same time once a fortnight. A substitute is available and I, and many others, take it. It is more expensive but the overall cost to the State, when one considers the cost of doctors and nurses in hospitals, is lower. I have blood tests twice a year, as do many people I know, in place of warfarin. It is a pain in the neck to take half a day to go to a warfarin clinic, wait, get blood tests and return for results. In some instances, prescribing branded drugs would cost less to patients who are working. I am sure there are similar clinics in different parts of the country. I advocate the cheaper drugs but the branded drugs may save the patient and the HSE time and money.