Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 8 February 2022
738. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Health the details of the way the two consultations per annum with general practitioners and other doctors to discuss forms of contraception suitable for individual patients and to enable prescription of same will be administered; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6517/22]
View answerThe Report of the Working Group on Access to Contraception, published in October 2019, identified the barriers that exist to accessing contraception for a significant amount of women in Ireland including accessibility, education, workforce capacity and cost. With this in mind, the Programme for Government commits to providing free contraception for women, starting with the 17-25 age cohort. The Department of Health Contraception Implementation Group is actively working on implementation and funding of approximately €9m has been allocated in Budget 2022 to enable commencement of the scheme in August 2022.
The scheme will provide for:
1. The cost of prescription contraception;
2. The cost of two consultations per annum with GPs and other doctors to discuss suitable contraception for individual patients and to enable prescription of same;
3. The cost of fitting and/or removal of various types of long-acting reversible contraception (LARCs) plus any necessary checks, by medical professionals certified to fit/remove same;
4. The cost of training and certifying additional medical professionals to fit and remove LARCs;
5. Provision of contraceptive options currently available to medical card holders through this scheme, to include contraceptive injections, implants, coils, the contraceptive patch and ring, and various forms of oral contraceptive pill, including emergency contraception.
For items such as the contraceptive pill, these are typically prescribed at 6 month intervals, so two consultations allows for full provision. For LARCs, (e.g. IUS, IUD, implants, injections), where the fittings/injections are carried out by healthcare professionals, fitting and removal appointments are also provided for separately, in addition to the consultations.
The administrative details of the scheme will be formally agreed with the relevant representative organisations and a contract agreed for the provision of service, prior to August 2022.
