Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail)
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156. To ask the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to the situation whereby pharmacists' prescriptions in some cases request the person to come back on a weekly basis even though they have a monthly prescription; if there are additional payments available to the pharmacists for filling the prescriptions on a phased basis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42115/17]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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In general, monthly prescriptions are dispensed by pharmacies on a monthly or 28-day basis depending on the type of medicine and the form in which it is packaged by the manufacturer. A prescriber may, on occasion, request that patients are only supplied with one week's supply of medicine at a time, due to the nature of the medicines involved and/or any ongoing safety concerns for the patient. In such circumstances, the prescription would be required to be dispensed by the pharmacy on a weekly basis, and this would be governed by the particular patient's care needs. This is known as phased dispensing and a fee is paid to a pharmacist for this service.

Claims by pharmacists for phased dispensing fees are only valid in certain narrow circumstances, where the dispensing on multiple supply occasions is:

- at the request of a patient's physician;

- due to the inherent nature of the medicine in terms of product stability and shelf life;

- where a patient is commencing new drug therapy with a view to establishing patient tolerance and acceptability before continuing on a full treatment regimen;

- in exceptional circumstances where the patient is incapable of safely and effectively managing the medication regimen.