Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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Question 253: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if her attention has been drawn to the fact that some pharmacists charge above the agreed mark-up and dispensing fee in relation to prescribed medicines; if she has a monitoring or reporting system in place to deal with such breaches and to ensure redress for aggrieved pharmacy customers; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6627/10]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Independent)
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On 1 July last, I made regulations under the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act 2009 to specify the fees and other payments to be made to pharmacists who dispense drugs and medicines under the GMS (medical card), the Drug Payment Scheme (DPS), the Long Term Illness Scheme (LTI) and other community drugs schemes. The main changes were: A new dispensing fee structure based on a sliding scale as follows: €5 for first 20,000 items, €4.50 for next 10,000 items and €3.50 for the remaining items. Retail Mark-up was reduced from 50% to 20%. Wholesale Mark-up was reduced from 17.66% to 10% of the ex-factory price of drugs.

It is my view that the fees and mark-ups set out in the regulations should be applied to all transactions where a person produces a DPS card, including transactions where expenditure has not reached the €120 monthly threshold under the DPS scheme. I have been disappointed to learn that some pharmacists are not applying the fees and mark-ups in this manner. I have raised this matter with the Irish Pharmacy Union (IPU) and intend to pursue it further.