Vol. 457 No. 4
34 Mr. Leonard asked the Minister for Health the action, if any, he has taken, in view of the report in the Irish Medical Times of February 1995, which quoted official figures of an 18 per cent increase in the monthly drugs bill resulting from an increase in drugs prescribed by general practitioners; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14466/95]
Limerick East): I presume the Deputy is referring to an article which appeared in the Irish Medical Times on 20 February 1995. The article quoted an 18 per cent increase in the GMS drugs bill for November 1994. The 18 per cent mentioned was not an annual increase but referred specifically to a November 1994 increase as against a November 1993 figure.
Simple comparisons of expenditure by the General Medical Services (Payments) Board between one year and another should be treated with caution as any reasonable analysis must take account of a variety of issues such as morbidity factors, number of people covered, number of prescribing days and level of submission of claims by pharmacists.
My Department and the health boards continuously monitor, with the support of the General Medical Services (Payments) Board, expenditure on medicines available under the various schemes and I am satisfied that the strategies adopted to contain the cost of medicines in the General Medical Services are operating reasonably well. In particular, the indicative drug target scheme operated by general practitioners is leading to more rational and cost effective prescribing by doctors. Since the introduction of this scheme the rise in the ingredient cost of medicines has dropped from an annual average of 11 per cent to an annual average rise of 4 per cent in the past two years.
