Pharmacists call for powers to prescribe

IRISH chemists made an opening bid yesterday for a series of new powers which would allow them prescribe for minor ailments and save the Exchequer €100 million a year.

The Irish Pharmaceutical Union (IPU) believes the law should be changed to give their members a range of new powers including:

Medicine management.

Powers to prescribe for minor ailments.

Generic substitution powers.

Structured health promotion services.

The IPU outlined their case for increased powers to the Joint Oireachtas Health Committee yesterday in a bid to get their support for new legislation.

IPU president Richard Collis said the Government can prevent illness by investing in primary care and pharmacists can help them achieve this. The Government can also save money and deliver a better service by allowing pharmacists here to prescribe for minor ailments, he added.

Many families just above the GMS eligibility threshold come to pharmacists seeking advice on medicine because basic medical costs can amount to 40% of their weekly wage.

But if pharmacists had powers to prescribe for minor ailments, it would help these people to access services and free-up GP surgeries and A&E departments to deal with more serious matters, Mr Collis said.

The role of pharmacist as a prescriber for minor ailments has proven very successful in Britain and other European countries, according to the IPU.

They also want chemists to give generic drugs instead of more expensive new brand names.

The National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics at St James’s Hospital showed last year that €6m could be saved by substituting 11 of the 30 most costly drugs on the GMS with a generic equivalent.

The IPU also wants more power to review the medicines being taken by patients following findings that 50% of all patients do not take their medicines as prescribed.

Oireachtas Health Committee chairman Batt O’Keeffe said they would consider the proposals and put them to Health Minister Micheál Martin when he appears before them.