Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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620. To ask the Minister for Health the representative bodies he and his Department have engaged with as part of the review of community pharmacies services, the representative bodies that remain to be engaged with, and the timeline for such engagement. [29176/23]

Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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621. To ask the Minister for Health his and his Departments engagement to date with the Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform in relation to an increase in dispensing fees for community pharmacies to €6.50 per medicine. [29177/23]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 620 and 621 together.

The regulations governing the pharmacy fee structure are set out in the Public Service Pay and Pensions Act 2017 (No. 34 of 2017) and in S.I. No. 639 of 2019, the Public Service Pay and Pensions Act 2017 (Payments to Community Pharmacy Contractors) Regulations 2019, which put the current fee structure in place, with effect from 1 January 2020.

Under Section 42(14) of the Public Service Pay and Pensions Act 2017 the current pharmacy fee structure must be reviewed every third year after 2020. My Department is currently carrying out a review and Department officials have arranged to meet with the Irish Pharmacy Union (IPU) in that regard.

Should the review determine that the regulations governing the fee structure should be amended, engagement with the Health Service Executive and with the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform will take place in that regard. In addition, formal consultation with the IPU will be carried out in advance of amending the regulations. The Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform must consent to any regulations made under Section 42(1) of the Public Service Pay and Pensions Act 2017.

Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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622. To ask the Minister for Health the estimated full-year cost of increasing dispensing fees of community pharmacies, to a flat fee model of care being reimbursed at €6.50 per medicine. [29178/23]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The regulations governing the pharmacy fee structure are set out in the Public Service Pay and Pensions Act 2017 (No. 34 of 2017) and in S.I. No. 639 of 2019, the Public Service Pay and Pensions Act 2017 (Payments to Community Pharmacy Contractors) Regulations 2019, which put the current fee structure in place, with effect from 1 January 2020.

Under Section 42(14) of the Public Service Pay and Pensions Act 2017 the current pharmacy fee structure must be reviewed every third year after 2020. My Department is currently carrying out a review and Department officials have arranged to meet with the Irish Pharmacy Union in that regard.

The full year cost of introducing a flat fee per item dispensed is determined by the number of persons with eligibility under the state schemes and the number of items dispensed under those schemes. These continue to rise year on year.

The estimated full-year additional cost of introducing a flat fee of €6.50 per item dispensed would be no less than €140m per annum. However, depending on activity under the schemes, it could cost up to €162m per annum.