Dublin pharmacy earns nearly €1m in State fees

A PHARMACY in Dublin city received almost €1 million for dispensing drugs and medicines under various State community schemes last year.

Abbey Healthcare Ltd, Abbey Road, Monkstown, Co Dublin, received € 930,238 in fees and mark-up payments under the GMS, drug payment and long-term illness schemes in 2010, according to official Health Service Executive (HSE) figures which have been seen by The Irish Times.

The pharmacy received €526,043 under the GMS or medical card scheme, €229,438 under the long-term illness scheme and €162,681 in fees and mark-up payments under the drug payment scheme.

AKTJ Ltd, trading as Moloney’s Pharmacy, Grange Cross, Ballyfermot, Dublin, earned €722,418 for dispensing drugs and medicines under the State schemes.

The pharmacy earning the highest fees through State community schemes outside of Dublin was Powers Chemist Ballybricken Ltd in Waterford, which earned €672,936.

The highest-earning pharmacy in Cork was a Unicare pharmacy, the specific address of which was not revealed in the figures, which received € 591,648.

In Limerick, the pharmacy in receipt of the highest amount from State schemes was Declan Hickey Chemists Ltd, John’s Square, which earned €404,313.

In Galway, the pharmacy in receipt of most payments was Agatha Mitchell Ltd, which received €479,972 in payments.

The HSE figures show that 36 pharmacies received more than €500,000 last year in fees and mark-up payments.

However, at the other end of the table, about 110 pharmacies received less than €40,000, while one outlet in Limerick received just €1,028 last year.

The figures do not include any share of the margin shared by distributors with pharmacists or revenue from “front-of-shop” sales such as cosmetics or from dispensing to private patients below the threshold of the drug payment scheme of €120 a month.

This year pharmacists were also offered a fee of €15 by the Government to administer the seasonal flu vaccine on behalf of the HSE.

The Department of Health said earlier this year that the number of community or retail pharmacies providing services to GMS patients has actually increased since the government began cutting fees and allowances in 2009.

Senior department officials said in May there were actually more than 50 additional community pharmacies now providing GMS services than there were in 2009.

The department established that in May 2009 prior to the introduction of the Fempi [financial emergency legislation] regulations there were 1,623 pharmacies providing GMS services. This rose to 1,640 by May 2010 and in January 2011 the figure was 1,677.

Meanwhile, in the area of dentistry, three dental practices earned over € 300,000 through State schemes in 2010.

Tipperary dentist Dr Jerome Kiely received the highest fees under State schemes at €322,521. He was followed by Donegal dentist Dr Terence G Fox, who earned €317,355 and Wexford dentist Dr Ronan Andrew Cuddihy, who received €315,869.

Overall, 30 dentists across the State earned over €200,000 through State dental payments in 2010. Some 197 dentists earned between €100,000 and €200,000 in government scheme fees last year. At the other end of the scale, 84 dentists earned less than €10,000 under the State schemes.