IPU calls for pharmacists to be allowed prescribe medicine

The Irish Pharmaceutical Union (IPU) has called for a changes in the law to allow pharmacists prescribe medicines in certain narrow and well-defined circumstances.

The union says this would enable patients to have direct access to medicines and antibiotics for minor ailments, help many families who find themselves marginally above the GMS eligibility threshold, and free up GPs' surgeries and Accident and Emergency Departments to deal with more serious matters.

The call was made by the President of the IPU, Richard Collis, who made a presentation to the Oireachtas Committee on Health & Children this morning.

The IPU represents 1,500 pharmacists.

Referring to the financial difficulties that families just above the GMS threshold can face with a sick child, he said that more could be done if pharmacists could adhere to protocols allowing for them to treat conditions such as minor infections and uncomplicated respiritary and urinary tract infections.

He told the committee that the role of the pharmacist as a prescriber has been developed in Britain and elsewhere with considerable success.

He said: "We are not looking for carte blanche to start handing out antibiotics left, right and centre, nor are we looking to usurp the role of the doctor. We believe that pharmacists, given appropriate training and guidelines, are in an ideal position to treat routine ailments".

The IPU also wants to see increased usage of generic medicines.

Collis said that figures presented by the National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics in St James's Hospital last year showed that €6m could potentially be saved annually from substituting generic drugs for 11 of the top 30 drugs of highest cost to the GMS (where a generic equivalent was available).

He said that less than 40% of all medicines dispensed on the GMS have a generic equivalent - making generic substitution for the other 60% impossible. A generic policy will not lead to massive savings in the system but can contribute to overall cost containment.