John Brassil (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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360. To ask the Minister for Health the status of the Government's plans to expand the role of community pharmacists in managing the health of their patients and in medicine prescription. [40616/16]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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In the context of the Programme for Government I am examining the potential for expanding the services that our contracted pharmacists deliver to public patients including in the areas such as vaccination, treatment of minor ailments and supply of emergency contraception.

A pilot minor ailments project was run earlier this year by the HSE in conjunction with the Irish Pharmaceutical Union where medical card patients were treated for six minor conditions directly by the pharmacist. The outcome of this pilot is being assessed by the HSE.