Pharmacists could be charging patients €20 to dispense medication in blister packs from January, a charge previously covered by the State, the Dáil has heard.
Sinn Féin finance spokesman Pearse Doherty said thousands of people with conditions such as dementia and Alzheimer’s depend on tablet blister packs to help manage their medication.
He also said people with disabilities are affected and under real pressure with the cost of living. “The packs help them make sure that they take the right dosage and at the right time of day.”
The non-reusable blister packs store medication in “bubbles”, with a bubble each for tablets taken at different times of the day, and for each day of the month. Pharmacists have written to patients proposing to charge €20 to dispense blister packs from the beginning of January.
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Mr Doherty claimed the cost of dispensing blister packs has been paid by the State for decades but vulnerable patients “will be hit by fee charges of up to €50 a month, in some cases”.
“This is a bad decision at any time, but you make this cruel choice during a cost-of-living crisis, when every euro is precious to people.”
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said “we will go back and discuss this with the HSE” but it was never agreed the State should pay.
“I’m not sure there should be a fee attached for this at all – or that the State should pay for it.”
Mr Doherty said his phone has been “hopping” with very worried and angry people about the matter.
A man in his late 70s, whose wife has dementia told the TD he would find it very hard to manage her medication without a blister pack. “He doesn’t know where they’re going to find the extra money to pay for them. He says they’re literally down to the last euro every couple of weeks.”
“It’s like you can’t stop yourself from making life harder for people,” he told the Taoiseach.
“You’re putting huge stress on elderly people during the Christmas period, when they know now that they’re going to have to face these charges come January.”
Mr Martin said the State never agreed to pay for “monitored dosing systems”, which are used where it would be unsafe for a patient to have all medication in one supply.
He hit out at Mr Doherty and said he wants the Government to pay for everything. Then “invariably you come in another day and question the Government about costs getting out of control”.
“The Government will interrogate this again, with the HSE and others. We will go back and discuss this with the HSE, and there will be joint discussions with the pharmacy union.”
