Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Question 185: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if her attention has been drawn to the fact that persons with medical cards who attend hospital and are issued with a prescription, must make an appointment and travel to their own general practitioner who must re-issue the hospital prescription on a green medical card form before the medical card holder can go to a pharmacy and have the medication dispensed; the reason this duplication of work is required; the further reason a person who is ill has to wait until their GP can see them before starting their medication; if she will make arrangements to enable the medical card holder to go directly to a pharmacy and have the medication dispensed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34790/06]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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As hospital doctors do not have General Medical Services contracts, prescriptions written by them for medical card holders are not reimbursable under the GMS scheme. Such prescriptions must be transcribed by the patient's GMS-contracted general practitioner to a GMS form. The prescription can then be dispensed by a pharmacy that holds a community pharmacy contract. Under emergency dispensing arrangements, GMS patients can obtain a short term supply of a hospital prescription from a community pharmacy, where it would not be possible or practical to contact their GP within a reasonable period.

This administrative arrangement provides for greater auditability and security within the GMS scheme. It also proves worthwhile because GMS patients have greater contact with their general practitioner after leaving hospital, establishing a valuable link between primary and secondary care services that might otherwise be less frequent.