Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 16 November 2023
225. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Health if the recent announcement to allow pharmacists to extend the validity of prescriptions from six months to twelve months, effective from 1 March 2024, includes medical card prescriptions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50305/23]
View answerI thank Deputy Smith for his question.
On the 23rd of July 2023, I established an Expert Taskforce to support the expansion of the role of pharmacists in Ireland. The remit of the Taskforce is to identify and support the delivery of specific objectives, which will serve to align services and practices that can be delivered by pharmacists, and pharmacies, with the needs of the health service and patients.
I was pleased to receive the first recommendation and report from the Taskforce at the end of October, which as you have noted, will come into effect on the 1st of March, 2024. My officials, along with relevant external stakeholders, are working on the implementation of this recommendation.
From the 1st of March 2024, the legal validity of prescriptions will be 12 months, with exceptions for some medications such as controlled drugs. Doctors and relevant prescribers such as nurses and dentists will be enabled to write prescriptions for a patient with a legal validity of up to 12 months if they deem it clinically appropriate. Pharmacists will have the power to extend prescriptions up to a maximum of 12 months for patients if they judge that it is appropriate to do so. Pharmacists may decide, following assessment, to refuse a patient’s request for extension of a prescription.
Prescriptions can be dispensed under different schemes such as GMS (general medical services) or DPS (drugs payment scheme), depending on what the person is eligible for. The legal validity of the prescription (with the exception of prescriptions for certain controlled drugs) will be 12 months, but a prescriber may use their clinical judgement to prescribe for a shorter period of time and a pharmacist may use their clinical judgement to refuse a patient’s request for extension of a prescription.
There is work to be undertaken to incorporate the extension of prescriptions into the aforementioned HSE schemes, however, the dispensing pattern within those schemes, which is monthly, will not change.
The Taskforce will continue their work over the next few months.
