Proposed changes that would require pharmacies to display the dispensing fees charged to private customers will not make “a blind bit of difference” to the prices people pay for drugs, an umbrella group representing the sector has said.
Some pharmacists have expressed surprise over the issue being prioritised by Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill and highlighted more pressing issues including how to effectively implement a HRT scheme that could benefit tens of thousands of women annually.
The Minister last week announced that the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI) is developing guidelines on price transparency.
“I believe patients don’t have clear visibility of the fees they are paying for services such as dispensing services when getting their prescription medicines dispensed,” Ms Carroll MacNeill said.
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She suggested the fees patients pay for medicines and associated services “are not well understood and not as clear as we should expect in 2025”.
The Minister said it was a “proportionate response” and she expressed hope that pharmacies will “support their patients, proactively, with clear information on the nature and quantum of charges levied”.
The dispensing fees – the price a pharmacist charges for their handling and preparation of prescription medications for private patients – can range from €5 per script to more than €10.
The vast majority of prescriptions are filled under public schemes and involve dispensing fees set by the State, with many having been at the same level for almost 20 years.
Irish Pharmacy Union president Tom Murray said any price display scheme was not something pharmacists would “feel discomforted or in any way threatened by”.
He acknowledged that the fees charged by pharmacies vary, but said it was up to private business to set their own charges.
Contrary to some reporting, he said, pharmacists do not typically charge a mark-up on medicines.
He expressed confusion as to why the Minister was pushing for price lists when “they won’t make a blind bit of difference to the consumer and the price they pay for medicines or make any difference to pharmacy practices”.
An issue raised by some consumers is the unwillingness of some pharmacists to dispense drugs covering a period of more than a month, which can lead to them paying six different dispensing fees over a six-month period.
Mr Murray said there was only a “very small element of truth” to the idea pharmacist only dispensed monthly to boost revenue. He said more pressing factors include the short supply of 400 commonly used medicines.
“It would be inappropriate for pharmacists to front load certain patients because what will end up happening is that it will exacerbate shortage problems.”
He also noted a public safety issue around having large amounts of prescription drugs in people’s homes.
Former Fine Gael TD Kate O’Connell, who runs three pharmacies in south Dublin, suggested that most outlets link the dispensing fees they charge private patients to the State mandated fees.
“I don’t think there’s going to be some massive scandal where it is revealed that pharmacies have been charging a €25 dispensing fee forever and no one’s noticed. You’ll probably see very little variation,” she said.
She said the sector needed reform to address everything from the level of administration and paperwork required from pharmacists to the remuneration for medicines under the public and private systems.
Ms O’Connell said she had no issue dispensing more than one month of a prescription in certain circumstances.
“Each pharmacy is different but I would actively promote the dispensing of six or 12 months of some drugs,” she said. “From my point of view, as a business, it is about stock turnover and it’s better for me that the six months are on your shelf in your house than on my shelves in my dispensary. I charge the same fee per transaction so I charge you the same fee for one month of a cholesterol tablet and for six months.”
