James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Investing in the health of our people is exactly what the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, is doing. That is why the Minister has put record funding into medicines and he continues to do the important work he is doing in this area.That funding was not always made available by previous Governments. A medicines sustainability task force has been established as a priority work stream of the joint HSE-Department of health savings and productivity programme. This task force is a joint endeavour, co-chaired by senior HSE and Department officials. Membership includes pharmacists, clinicians, and officials from each organisation. Its primary objectives are to support the HSE’s examination of medicines expenditure in the health service and to identify measures to maximise the efficient use of the substantial resources within the medicines budget.

The task force will identify the structural and operational requirements necessary to enable long-term sustainability of medicines expenditure. The task force will have due regard to the security and sustainability of supply of medicines to the State. It will provide regular reports on its progress to the HSE-Department productivity and savings task force.