Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Gallagher for raising the matter of the public pay and pensions legislation with regard to the community pharmacy sector and its future. I am speaking today on behalf of the Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly.

The Minister recognises the significant role community pharmacists play in the delivery of patient care. Community pharmacy is often one of the most accessible avenues to receiving such care and provides a vital link in our healthcare service by ensuring the safe supply of medicines to people. Medicines are the most common healthcare intervention and the use and complexity of medicines are increasing. Pharmacists are the healthcare professionals optimally placed by virtue of their training to ensure the rational and safe use of medicines by patients. The Minister also acknowledges the vital role that community pharmacy will play in the development and implementation of future healthcare service reform, especially regarding the aims and vision of Sláintecare.

The focus of Sláintecare is to develop primary and community care and make it possible for people to stay healthy in their homes and communities for as long as

possible.The Department is open to exploring any evidence-based appropriately governed services delivered by appropriately trained professionals which will support this aim.

In this regard, various approaches to extending the scope of the practice of community pharmacists are being progressed by the Department. This includes the introduction of a minor ailments scheme and an enhanced role for pharmacists in the current contraception scheme for women.

The implementation of these necessitates engagement with a range of stakeholders and full consideration of all relevant the legislative and operational issues involved. The Department recognises the need for the availability and retention of pharmacists, so that pharmacists may continue to meet patient needs and play a full role in the development of an integrated healthcare service.

The Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland is undertaking a project which aims to assess emerging risks to the continued availability of a professional pharmacy workforce within community and hospital pharmacy in Ireland. This will inform how and where pharmacists work, examine their perceptions of the sector and will identify barriers to choosing to work in patient-facing roles.

The regulations governing the pharmacy fee structure are set out in the Public Service Pay and Pensions Act 2017 and in SI 639 of 2019 - Public Service Pay and Pensions Act 2017 (Payments to Community Pharmacy Contractors) Regulations 2019 - which put the current fee structure in place with effect from January 2020. Under section 42 of the Public Service Pay and Pensions Act 2017, the pharmacy fee structure must be reviewed every third year after 2020. The Department is currently carrying out that review and Department officials are meeting with the Irish Pharmacy Union, IPU, later today in this specific regard. The Minister believes there is a real opportunity to work together with community pharmacists and with other healthcare providers to make a significant difference to patients' outcomes. The pay freeze was introduced many years ago under the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest, FEMPI, Acts regime and it has been difficult for a long period up to when that matter was dealt with.

The Senator has mentioned the issue of the dispensing fees. The publicly-funded service expansion should address unmet public healthcare needs, improve access to existing public health services and provide better value for money to all concerned.

Everybody here who has ever had a reason to collect a prescription and to talk to a pharmacist in order to collect something for themselves or for a family member knows of the advice and accessibility one can obtain in a pharmacy. One can walk in off the street and meet a pharmacist. They cannot change one's prescription or anything like that but they can give very good advice on one's healthcare. We all know how difficult, on some occasions, it is to get an appointment with a GP. Some people are now using the local pharmacist as a surrogate. They cannot prescribe or anything like that but their role has been increasing and that needs to be recognised.