Eoghan Kenny (Cork North-Central, Labour)
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452. To ask the Minister for Health if she will provide a list of all pharmacies that have opted into the free HRT scheme scheduled to commence on 1 June 2025, in tabular form. [23087/25]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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I recently announced that from the 1st June 2025, the provision of Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) products for the treatment of the symptoms of menopause will be provided free to women at the point of dispensing. The implementation of this measure will now include a dispensing fee for pharmacists. This is step forward from the Budget 2025 announcement which only covered the medication costs.

HRT products are currently available, where prescribed, to General Medical Services (GMS) patients with a medical card and also through the Drugs Payment Scheme (DPS) for patients who reach the threshold without a medical card. This new HRT measure is targeted at assisting women who do not have access to a medical card or whose HRT costs fall below the current DPS threshold of €80 per month.

Pharmacies have until the 1st of June 2025 to sign up for reimbursement support under this new initiative. The HSE are developing a pharmacy finder which will be published on their website, making it easy for women to find participating pharmacies near them. It is also important to note that pharmacies that do not sign up to this measure will continue to provide access to HRT products for women who are eligible for the GMS and DPS.