Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 27 June 2023
748. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Health the estimated cost to increase fees paid to pharmacists for dispensing medicines to a flat fee of €5, €5.50, €6 and €6.50 per item, in tabular form. [31273/23]
View answerThe regulations governing the pharmacy fee structure are set out in the Public Service Pay and Pensions Act 2017 (No. 34 of 2017) and in S.I. No. 639 of 2019, the Public Service Pay and Pensions Act 2017 (Payments to Community Pharmacy Contractors) Regulations 2019, which put the current fee structure in place, with effect from 1 January 2020.
Under Section 42(14) of the Public Service Pay and Pensions Act 2017 the pharmacy fee structure must be reviewed every third year after 2020. My Department is currently carrying out a review.
The full year cost of introducing a flat fee per item dispensed is determined by the number of persons with eligibility under the state schemes and the number of items dispensed under those schemes. These continue to rise year on year.
The estimated cost for introducing a flat fee of €5, €5.50, €6 and €6.50 is displayed in the table below, assuming a specified percentage increase in the number of items dispensed in 2022 (i.e., 92,444,555).
|
Proposed fee |
Additional cost (If 1% increase in items dispensed) |
Additional cost (If 5% increase in items dispensed) |
|
€5 |
N/A |
€17m |
|
€5.50 |
€45.2m |
€65.6m |
|
€6 |
€91.9m |
€114.1m |
|
€6.50 |
€138.6m |
€162.6m |
