Written answers
Tuesday, 27 June 2023
Department of Health
Pharmacy Services
David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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748. To ask the Minister for Health the estimated cost to increase fees paid to pharmacists for dispensing medicines to a flat fee of €5, €5.50, €6 and €6.50 per item, in tabular form. [31273/23]
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 pharmacy fee structure must be reviewed every third year after 2020. My Department is currently carrying out a review.
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 cost for introducing a flat fee of €5, €5.50, €6 and €6.50 is displayed in the table below, assuming a specified percentage increase in the number of items dispensed in 2022 (i.e., 92,444,555).
| Proposed fee | Additional cost (If 1% increase in items dispensed) | Additional cost (If 5% increase in items dispensed) |
|---|---|---|
| €5 | N/A | €17m |
| €5.50 | €45.2m | €65.6m |
| €6 | €91.9m | €114.1m |
| €6.50 | €138.6m | €162.6m |
David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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749. To ask the Minister for Health the estimated first year and full cost of implementing a minor ailments and illness scheme in community pharmacy. [31274/23]
Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I recognise the significant role community pharmacists play in the delivery of patient care and acknowledge the potential for this role to be developed further in the context of healthcare service reform.
In that regard, various approaches to extending the scope of practice of community pharmacists are being progressed by my Department. This includes the introduction of a Minor Ailment Scheme (MAS). The MAS would enable medical card holders to attend their local pharmacist for assessment and treatment for a number of specified ailments rather than initially having to attend the GP to obtain a prescription. The main purpose of this is to remove an access barrier to to increase capacity in our healthcare service.
The full-year cost of implementing the MAS will be comparable to the current spend for those conditions under the General Medical Services (GMS) scheme, although it is likely that the spend will include a combination of both transferred activity and new activity. The spend under GMS in 2022 for the conditions being considered for inclusion in the MAS was approximately €15.1m.
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