15,000 users for first mobile pharmacy service

Ireland’s first mobile pharmacist service offering home visits to review prescriptions and arrange a next-day drug delivery now has almost 15,000 members.

The service was launched a year ago by Healthwave, a Dublin-based pharmacy that also offers cheaper mediation with generic drugs.

Under Irish law, customers have to present their prescription to the pharmacist before their drugs can be dispensed. Many people had been travelling long distances to the pharmacy in Dundrum to save an average of 50% on prescription medication. Soon after opening, the pharmacist started offering a nationwide home- delivery service.

The pharmacy operates like a club, with adults paying an annual membership fee of €25. For families, the fee is €60 a year.

Healthwave founder Shane O’Sullivan, who graduated from University College Cork in 2008, said that around 500 people joinedHealthPass every month.

He said members got four free deliveries a year and after that the delivery charge is €5.

He said the pharmacy, which is based in Dundrum Shopping Centre, was expanding rapidly because of the volume of deliveries.

“We now have 35 full-time staff since we launched the delivery service in February 2015,” he said.

Mr O’Sullivan said people in Dublin could expect delivery on the same day with delivery drivers leaving the shop on the afternoon of the same day the prescription was collected.

For anywhere else in the country, Healthwave provides an overnight service.