Written answers

Tuesday, 8 November 2022

Department of Health

Health Services Staff

Photo of Seán SherlockSeán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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984. To ask the Minister for Health the number of medical professionals who are certified to fit and remove long-acting reversible contraception; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54463/22]

Photo of Seán SherlockSeán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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985. To ask the Minister for Health the number of medical professionals who have been certified to fit and remove long-acting reversible contraception since the introduction of the scheme on 14 September 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54464/22]

Photo of Seán SherlockSeán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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986. To ask the Minister for Health the number of GPs who are participating in the free contraception scheme since its introduction on 14 September 2022; if he will provide a breakdown in respect of CHO area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54465/22]

Photo of Seán SherlockSeán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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987. To ask the Minister for Health when the contact details of the GPs participating in the free contraception services contract scheme will be uploaded to the HSE website; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54466/22]

Photo of Seán SherlockSeán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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988. To ask the Minister for Health the number of women aged 17 to 25 years who availed of free contraception in the first four weeks of the programme since its commencement on 14 September 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54467/22]

Photo of Frank FeighanFrank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 984 to 988, inclusive, together.

In accordance with the Programme for Government and Women’s Health Action Plan commitments, the free contraception scheme for women aged 17-25 was launched on Wednesday 14th September.

Funding of approximately €9m has been allocated for the scheme in Budget 2022. Further funding of approximately €32 million is provided, through Budget 2023, to support the contraception scheme and to expand it to include 16-30 year olds in 2023. The scheme will be expanded to include 26-year-olds on 1 January 2023, with 16 and 27-30 year olds becoming eligible on 1 September 2023. The expansion of the scheme to 16 year olds is subject to legal advice, detailed consultation and the required legislative amendments.

The scheme is currently open to 17-25 year-old women ordinarily resident in Ireland and provides for:

- The cost of prescription contraception;

- The cost of necessary consultations with medical professionals to discuss suitable contraception for individual patients and to enable prescription of same;

- The cost of fitting and/or removal of various types of long-acting reversible contraception (LARCs) plus any necessary checks, by medical professionals certified to fit/remove same;

- The cost of training and certifying additional medical professionals to fit and remove LARCs;

- The cost of providing the wide range of contraceptive options currently available to GMS (medical) card holders, which are also available through this scheme, including contraceptive injections, implants, IUS and IUDs (coils), the contraceptive patch and ring, and various forms of oral contraceptive pill, including emergency contraception.

The legal framework for the scheme is provided by the Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) (No. 2) Act, 2022, which was enacted in July and commenced in September, 2022. Digital information regarding the scheme, how to access it and wider information on contraceptive options is available through www.sexualwellbeing.ie .

Over 2,000 GPs and over 1,800 pharmacists have entered into contracts with the HSE to be providers under the scheme and are currently able to access the re-imbursement systems in place.

Funding has been allocated for a training programme that has been developed by the Irish College of General Practitioners to provide training to additional GPs in terms of fitting and removal of LARCs. The HSE also maintain records of the numbers of GPs and pharmacies entering into contracts under the scheme, and of the numbers of claims.

Therefore, as many of the matters raised are service matters, I have also asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the deputy directly, as soon as possible.

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