Concerns have emerged over the sustainability of medicine management services under Ireland’s new Community Pharmacy Agreement, with pharmacists warning that the exclusion of reimbursement for blister packs and restrictions on phased dispensing could compromise patient safety.
In the Irish parliament, Deputy Johnny Guirke told the assembly that the agreement, which sets out service provisions and funding models for 2025, fails to cover monitored dosage systems (MDS) despite their role in helping vulnerable patients manage complex medication regimes. Pharmacies currently absorb the cost of preparing blister packs, including staff time and materials, a practice Guirke said was “not sustainable in the long term”.
“These omissions undermine safe medicines management for vulnerable patients and place additional strain on pharmacies,” he said, urging the government to reinstate reimbursement for blister packs and amend the agreement to support phased dispensing.
Irish Prime Minister, Micheál Martin, acknowledged the concerns, noting that negotiations between the Department of Health and the Irish Pharmacy Union (IPU) are ongoing. “These agreements are hard-negotiated,” he said, adding that he would ask the health minister to respond directly to the deputy.
The dispute highlights tensions over funding priorities as Ireland seeks to expand the role of community pharmacies in primary care while maintaining cost controls. Industry representatives have warned that without reimbursement, services designed to reduce medication errors and hospital admissions could be at risk.
New pharmacy pricing rules
In addition to the new pharmacy agreement, Ireland is introducing measures to improve transparency in healthcare costs while advancing plans for a new national drugs strategy, as ministers signal a commitment to accountability and patient empowerment.
Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill has welcomed the publication of new guidance supporting the transparency of medicine pricing and fees for pharmacy services. The guidance, developed by the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI), aims to assist pharmacists in providing clear and accessible pricing information to the public.
“Community pharmacies are at the heart of our healthcare system; they are among the most trusted and accessible healthcare professionals,” Carroll MacNeill said. “This guidance will strengthen that trust even further, with access to information about the cost of services pharmacists deliver being made available to the public for the first time.”
Pharmacy pricing guidance
Under the new rules, pharmacies will be required to display information about the cost of all professional services on a clear notice in a conspicuous location, visible to patients from 1 December 2025.
From 2026, patients will receive a detailed receipt for any transaction outlining the costs of the medicine dispensing fee (where applicable), the cost of any other professional service.
Carroll MacNeill said the initiative aligns with broader reforms to expand the role pharmacists play in Irish communities. She explained that the recent Community Pharmacy Agreement and the new guidance on pricing transparency will help people better understand exactly what they’re paying for their medication and associated services.
New national drugs strategy
In a parallel development, public health minister Jennifer Murnane O’Connor, has published a summary report of stakeholder consultations, which will inform the development of the next national drugs strategy.
The consultations involved 241 people, including members of the national drugs strategy’s National Oversight Committee and Strategic Implementation Groups, the Drug and Alcohol Task Forces, Health Service Executive (HSE) Addiction Managers, individuals and families with lived and living experience, civil society representatives and service providers, along with prevention and education stakeholders.
“These consultations were designed to identify learnings from the current national drugs strategy and to collect insights to help shape the successor strategy, ensuring that it is reflective of and responsive to the needs of those with direct and indirect experience of problematic drug and alcohol use,” the Department of Health said.
The consultations covered “strategic priorities for the new strategy, the planning and delivery of drug services in the HSE health regions, the lived and living experience of people who use drugs and their families, the development of the drugs workforce, and drug prevention.”
Several areas of progress were noted, including “the increase in bed numbers in residential centres and the positive role of the drugs workforce, who are viewed as client-focused, experienced and skilled, with strong HSE clinical governance.” The report also praised “the operationalisation of Ireland’s first medically supervised injecting facility” and work on emerging drug trends.
However, participants highlighted concerns such as “a perceived insufficient focus on prevention and a lack of appropriately skilled prevention workers in each Task Force to deliver prevention initiatives,” as well as “gaps in services in certain areas, financial barriers to accessing some treatment centres and clinics, long waiting lists, as well as gaps in services for children and young people.”
(VA)
