Pat Carey (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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Question 185: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children the reason medical card-holders have to return to their general practitioners to get hospital prescriptions transferred to medical card prescriptions; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17400/06]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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As hospital doctors do not have GMS contracts, prescriptions written by them for medical cardholders are not reimbursable under the General Medical Services scheme. Where a medical cardholder is prescribed a drug or medicine by a hospital doctor, the prescription must be transcribed by his or her GMS-contracted general practitioner. The prescription can then be dispensed by a pharmacy that holds a community pharmacy contractor agreement. However, there is a facility for emergency dispensing of hospital prescriptions by community pharmacies, whereby GMS patients can obtain a short term supply of the prescribed medicine if it would not be possible or practical to contact their GP within a reasonable period.

This administrative arrangement provides not only for a measure of auditability and security within the GMS scheme, but also proves worthwhile because GMS patients have to contact their general practitioner after leaving hospital, thereby establishing a valuable link between primary and secondary care services that would otherwise be far less frequent.