David Cullinane
Question:749. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Health the estimated first year and full cost of implementing a minor ailments and illness scheme in community pharmacy. [31274/23]
View answerTuesday, 27 June 2023
Questions (749)
Written answers
I recognise the significant role community pharmacists play in the delivery of patient care and acknowledge the potential for this role to be developed further in the context of healthcare service reform.
In that regard, various approaches to extending the scope of practice of community pharmacists are being progressed by my Department. This includes the introduction of a Minor Ailment Scheme (MAS). The MAS would enable medical card holders to attend their local pharmacist for assessment and treatment for a number of specified ailments rather than initially having to attend the GP to obtain a prescription. The main purpose of this is to remove an access barrier to to increase capacity in our healthcare service.
The full-year cost of implementing the MAS will be comparable to the current spend for those conditions under the General Medical Services (GMS) scheme, although it is likely that the spend will include a combination of both transferred activity and new activity. The spend under GMS in 2022 for the conditions being considered for inclusion in the MAS was approximately €15.1m.