Vol. 480 No. 6
293 Mr. N. Ahern asked the Minister for Health and Children the number of pharmacists on the GMS service for each of the past five years; his views on the trend of the obvious growth in pharmacy multiples to the decline of the family pharmacy; the cost structure and payment system to pharmacies; and if he will make a statement on the matter in relation to allocating each medical card holder to a particular pharmacy on a constant or monthly basis. [14953/97]
The supply of community pharmacy services to General Medical Services (GMS) patients is by way of contract between an individual pharmacy and the chief executive officer of the relevant health board. Individual pharmacies exist as sole traders, in which case the proprietor must be a registered pharmacist or alternatively pharmacies exist as limited companies, including multiples, in which case the proprietor may or may not be a registered pharmacist but must employ a supervising pharmacist. As the contract is between the pharmacy and the health board, statistics on the number of individual pharmacists employed in community pharmacies under the GMS scheme are not available to my Department.
However, the number of contracts at 31 December for each of the last five years is as follows: 1996, 1,153; 1995, 1,151; 1994, 1,135; 1993, 1,107; 1992, 1,099.
Records are not available regarding the trend over time in respect of community pharmacies which are companies and community pharmacies which are sole traders.
With regard to the cost structures and payment system to pharmacies, the position is that the General Medical Services (Payments) Board reimburses the pharmacies in respect of the ingredient cost of the products dispensed under the GMS scheme, plus a dispensing fee in accordance with an agreed schedule of fees.
In the case of patients covered under the drugs cost subsidisation, long-term illness, EEA visitors and the Health (Amendment) Act schemes, the board reimburses the pharmacy the ingredient cost of the medicine, plus the normal retail markup on ingredient cost and a standard fee.
In the case of dispensing under the high tech scheme, the pharmacy is paid a monthly patient care fee in respect of each patient.
