Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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337. To ask the Minister for Health to provide an update on the implementation of electronic prescriptions; if she will outline the expected impact on patient care and pharmacy efficiency; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35091/25]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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ePrescribing is a very important foundational component of the future digital health landscape in Ireland.

The Department of Health introduced legislative changes during the COVID-19 pandemic to enable the electronic transfer of prescriptions (ETP) via Healthmail, allowing GPs to securely send prescriptions directly to patients’ pharmacies of choice. This measure significantly reduced reliance on paper, streamlined administrative processes, and improved patient access to medications.

Building on this success, the national ePrescribing system is being developed as part of the wider ePharmacy programme and is being delivered under the remit of the Health Service Executive (HSE). The programme is established, an ePrescribing project team is in place, being led by experienced pharmacists and supported by the technology team.

In an important milestone on our way to digitised patient records under Digital for Care, in May 2025, the HSE published the tender for the delivery of a National Electronic Prescribing (NEP) service. This will lead to a shortlisting of potential vendors for the national ePrescribing solution in July 2025 with a competitive dialogue procurement process undertaken by the HSE to follow.

The National Electronic Prescription Service will be a secure, efficient, and fully integrated digital service for the transmission and storage of electronic prescriptions and electronic dispensations generated for patients in ambulatory care in both public and private settings across Ireland’s health service.

It will enable accurate, timely access to medication information, which will empower patients and improve overall patient care and pharmacy efficiency by enhancing clinical decision-making, reducing medication errors, and streamlining clinical workflows.

This service will provide a critical piece of information for digital health records and the data from this service (prescription and dispensing data) will be available to patients and healthcare workers through the HSE Health App and the National Shared Care Record in the future.