asked the Minister for Health if he is aware that where a medical card holder is referred by his general practitioner to a specialist, who issues him with a prescription, the prescription cannot be dispensed free of charge by a pharmacist except on another prescription form by his general practitioner; if this is normal practice; if in circumstances such as this the general practitioner gets a further fee; if so, if he proposes to abolish this requirement in order to save Exchequer money and to save patients inconvenience; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Written Answers. - GMS Prescriptions.
97.
Retail pharmacies are reimbursed by the GMS (Payments) Board in respect of their supplying free of charge drugs and medicines reimbursible under the GMS scheme and prescribed for an eligible patient by his GMS doctor, on a properly completed GMS prescription form. These GMS prescription forms are only provided to general practitioners participating in the GMS Scheme.
In cases where a consultant writes a prescription for a medical card holder, for dispensing at a retail pharmacy, the consultant's prescription is transcribed to a GMS prescription form by the patient's general practitioner. This involves a normal GMS consultation, for which the general practitioner is paid the appropriate fee. The continuing care of the patient remains primarily the responsibility of the general practitioner, who has the benefit of specialist consultant advice.
Such cross referral enables the general practitioner to be kept fully informed of the prescribing choices and treatment indicated by the hospital specialist. The GP can thus review his own prescribing for the particular patient and make any alterations necessary arising from the prescribing of his specialist colleague.