Vol. 515 No. 2
13 Mr. Belton asked the Minister for Health and Children if his attention has been drawn to the fact that pharmacists are experiencing substantial delays in receiving payments due under the drug payments scheme; the administrative arrangements in place for the making of payments; the extent of the backlog; and the action, if any, he will take to rectify the difficulties which have arisen. [5518/00]
146 Mr. Shatter asked the Minister for Health and Children if his attention has been drawn to the fact that pharmacists are experiencing substantial delays in receiving payments due under the drug payments scheme; the administrative arrangements in place for the making of payments; the extent of the backlog; and the action, if any, he will take to rectify the difficulties which have arisen. [5615/00]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 13 and 146 together.
Throughout the six months from December 1998 to May 1999, officials from my Department and the General Medical Services Payments Board conducted negotiations with community pharmacists on the basis that drug payments scheme claims would be transmitted electronically to the board. It was accepted that not all pharmacies would be in a position to conduct business electronically immediately, but given that more than 200 were at that time transmitting GMS claims electronically each month and the numbers were increasing, it was expected that, with the launch of the drug payments scheme, the number of pharmacies with this facility would have increased considerably. It would appear that not all pharmacies had been provided by their system suppliers with the facility to communicate electronically with the GMS Payments Board.
In early June 1999 my Department was informed that pending resolution of a range of issues which were of concern to the Irish Pharmaceutical Union, community pharmacies were being advised not to co-operate with the proposal to transmit drug payment scheme claims electronically to the GMS Payments Board. As the scheme is of considerable benefit to a large section of the population, notably that no family or individual has to pay more than £42 per month on prescribed approved medicines, it was decided to proceed as planned with the launch of the scheme on 1 July 1999.
I understand that the GMS Payments Board shortly hopes to be in a position to bring all outstanding claims for payment from community pharmacists up to date and that every effort is being made to keep delays to a minimum. The problems which to date have prevented the electronic transmission of drug payment scheme claims from pharmacies to the GMS Payments Board are also being addressed.
Does the Minister agree that in order for this scheme to work, it is unfair to pharmacists that some have to wait a number of months before being paid for drugs properly supplied pursuant to prescriptions to patients and customers? Does he acknowledge this can create financial difficulties for some pharmacists as they must meet their obligations to their suppliers and that it is not in the interests of promoting a scheme of this nature for Government agencies to be dilatory in making payments in circumstances in which there are administrative guidelines to ensure suppliers of products are paid promptly when payments are sought?
The aim is to make prompt payments. The reply outlined some of the difficulties which have arisen over the last year and we are anxious to resolve these difficulties as soon as possible.
Does the Minister accept that this scheme has been a bit of a mess and that pharmacists have been affected badly as a result of a lack of planning in preparing the scheme? Will the health amendment Bill, due to be published during this session, have an impact on pharmacists because it relates to the drug refund scheme?
The details of the Bill will be published but I do not believe it will have a dramatic impact on pharmacists. We are endeavouring to sort out the difficulties that have arisen in relation to this scheme and we are satisfied that we should be in a position to resolve these outstanding issues fairly quickly.
