Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 16 Nov 1993

Vol. 435 No. 9

Written Answers. - Drugs Costs.

Pat Rabbitte

Question:

46 Mr. Rabbitte asked the Minister for Health if he will give the latest information available on the escalation of costs in the general medical service drugs budget compared to that of the drugs refund scheme; his views on the fact that, despite the best efforts of general practitioners, the indicative drug budgeting scheme can cause a disparity between the prescription of drugs for general medical service patients and non-general medical service patients; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Minister for Health (Mr. Howlin)

During the course of the last GMS Review, representatives of the Irish Medical Organisation and the Irish College of General Practitioners accepted that there was scope in the GMS scheme for achieving savings in expenditure on drugs without adversely affecting the quality of care for patients. The drugs strategy, which was agreed with them and which includes indicative drug targets, is aimed at encouraging each general practitioner to review his/her existing prescribing practices with a view to achieving not only more cost effective prescribing, but also better quality and safer prescribing for all patients. The strategy has, therefore, included a major emphasis on educational programmes in the whole area of therapeutics.

There is no question of the strategy interfering with the right and duty of individual doctors to prescribe as appropriate for each patient.

Annual expenditure on drugs in the GMS has increased by approximately 11 per cent per annum, in real terms, in recent years. Latest figures available for the current year show that this trend increase has reduced to approximately 5 per cent in real terms. It is difficult to arrive at comparable trend figures for the Drugs Refund Scheme because of structural changes which have taken place in the scheme in recent years. However, payments made on the scheme in the first six months of this year show a 7.8 per cent increase on the payments made in the last six months of 1992. In the same period payments made on the Drugs Cost Subsidisation Scheme rose by 12 per cent. This latter increase, while significantly greater than the rise in GMS costs, comprehends an increase of 14.5 per cent in the numbers of people registered under this scheme.