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Minister for Health publishes final report of the Expert Taskforce to Support the Expansion of the Role of Pharmacy

The Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has today published the report of the Expert Taskforce to Support the Expansion of the Role of Pharmacy.

The Expert Group has recommended that pharmacists should be able to prescribe for a range of common conditions. They have recommended an initial list of eight conditions which can be extended over time as the service evolves. The Group has also recommended the development, over the coming years, of more widespread models of pharmacist prescribing across the health service.

Prescribing for Common Conditions

Enabling pharmacists to prescribe for common conditions (often called minor ailments) means pharmacists can provide advice and treat common conditions.

This will enable pharmacists to manage common conditions by offering advice, and, when appropriate, prescribing prescription-only medicines through established protocols.

As recommended by the Taskforce an initial list of eight conditions will be included to allow pharmacists working in a community pharmacy to provide treatment to patients:

1. Allergic Rhinitis (Inflammation of the inside of the nose caused by an allergen)

2. Cold Sores (Tiny, fluid-filled blisters on the face or genitals)

3. Conjunctivitis (An eye condition caused by infection or allergies)

4. Impetigo (A contagious skin infection)

5. Oral Thrush (A fungal infection in the mouth)

6. Shingles (A skin infection caused by the chickenpox virus)

7. Uncomplicated UTI / Cystitis (An infection in the bladder or urethra)

8. Vulvovaginal Thrush (A genital fungal infection)

Pharmacists will be given the opportunity to undertake training to deliver this new service.

The Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI) will arrange for the delivery of this training which will delivered over the coming months. Patients will then be able to access treatment in a community pharmacy for these eight conditions to begin with.

Independent Pharmacist Prescribing

The Taskforce has also recommended the development of models of pharmacist prescribing across the health service. In other countries, this has involved pharmacists prescribing for more complex conditions in specific settings. The Minister has asked officials to examine how best to apply these models in an Irish context.

Minister Donnelly said:

"I established the Expert Taskforce to identify ways in which pharmacists can use their expertise to increase their already significant contribution to our healthcare service. Pharmacists are highly trusted, highly accessible and highly skilled. They’re In every town and village in Ireland. They are not yet being supported to work to their full potential.

"Today’s report was produced by experts including doctors, pharmacists, and other healthcare professionals. It provides an provides an excellent roadmap for the further expansion of pharmacists’ roles.

"It recommends that we begin by supporting pharmacists to prescribe for certain conditions under a new Common Conditions Service. Various countries, including England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Canada and New Zealand have already initiated pharmacist prescribing.

"I have written to a number of organisations, including the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland and the Irish Pharmacy Union, to invite them onto an implementation group in order to ensure there is no delay in rolling out this service.

"What we are announcing today represents an important change. The move will also alleviate pressure on GPs. I want this Common Conditions Service to be in place in early 2025. The service will be scaled-up over time, but we will start with these conditions.

"There is huge public support for this. My department conducted a public consultation on pharmacy in Ireland, and the feedback received was very encouraging, with 8 in 10 (83%) in favour of a Common Conditions Service.

"I would like to thank Dr. O’Mahony and the Taskforce members for their work and huge commitment. I fully support the recommendations of the Taskforce."

Interim Chief Medical Officer Professor Mary Horgan said:

"Timely, accessible and affordable healthcare for all is crucial for population health. Expanding the scope of practice of pharmacists, including enabling them to prescribe for certain common conditions, will enhance the delivery of patient-centred care. This is a significant change that requires dynamism and adaptability among our pharmacy and medical professionals, and I am confident that they will embrace this challenge in order to ensure improved care for patients all over the country.

"Common Conditions Services already operate very effectively in many other countries and I look forward to seeing the positive impact of the service here once it is implemented."

Chair of the Expert Taskforce Dr Pat O’Mahony said:

"I want to thank the members of the Expert Taskforce for their commitment to our work and the expertise each brought to our deliberations.

"We have reviewed the evidence available nationally and internationally and our recommendations support enhanced patient access to prescription medicines in a safe, regulated way as part of ongoing health service delivery, fully aligned with the principles of Universal Healthcare.

"I look forward to seeing these significant advances being delivered for patients and the public."

Today’s report follows the Minister’s acceptance last November of the Taskforce’s recommendation on extended prescriptions. This measure was implemented on 1 March 2024. It means that prescribers are enabled to write prescriptions with a maximum validity of 12 months, if they so wish. From 1 September, pharmacists can extend the validity of prescriptions from the current maximum period of six months to 12 months, in a move that will improve patient care and access.

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Notes

Expert Taskforce to Support the Expansion of the Role of Pharmacy Final Report

On 23 July 2023, the Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly established the Expert Taskforce to support the expansion of the role of pharmacists in Ireland. The Expert Taskforce is made up of 13 experts with experience in pharmacy education and practice, healthcare policy and delivery, and other related disciplines.

The Group comprises:

  • Chair Dr. Pat O Mahony - formerly CEO of the HPRA and a former Deputy Secretary General at the Department of Health, Pat was also Chairman of the Management Board of the European Medicines Agency. Pat is currently Chair of the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) and of the Irish Medicines Verification Organisation (IMVO), and the former CEO of Clinical Research Development Ireland (CRDI)
  • Prof. Michael Barry is a consultant Clinical Pharmacologist and Head of the Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics at the University of Dublin, Trinity College. He is the Clinical Director of the National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics
  • Pat Healy is the National Director of National Services and Schemes in the HSE
  • Keith O’Hourihane is a Community Pharmacist and an adjunct Clinical Lecturer in UCC School of Pharmacy
  • Joanne Kissane is a pharmacist and the Registrar and Chief Officer of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland, The Pharmacy Regulator
  • Kate Mulvenna is a pharmacist and former head of Pharmacy Function in the Primary Care Reimbursement Service (PCRS) in the HSE
  • Prof. Caitriona O’Driscoll is Professor and Chair of Pharmaceutics in the School of Pharmacy, University College Cork
  • Louisa Power is a pharmacist and a Medication Safety Specialist with the National Quality and Patient Safety Directorate of the HSE
  • Dr Diarmuid Quinlan is a GP and Medical Director of the Irish College of General Practitioners
  • Prof. Judith Strawbridge is Deputy Head (Education) of the School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI)
  • Mr Laurence O’Dwyer is a Pharmacist and the Scientific Affairs Manager in the Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA)
  • Dr Tamasine Grimes is Associate Professor in Practice of Pharmacy at the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at Trinity College Dublin and is a practicing pharmacist
  • Kevin Warren is the Principal Officer in the Medicines, Controlled Drugs and Pharmacy Legislation Unit of the Department of Health who replaced Anne-Marie Seymour Principal Officer in the Medicines, Controlled Drugs and Pharmacy Legislation Unit of the Department of Health in January 2024

The first recommendation of the Expert Taskforce was implemented on 1 March 2024. The maximum legal validity of prescriptions was extended from 6 to 12 months. That means:

  • prescribers can now write prescriptions for patients that are valid for up to 12 months
  • from September, for prescriptions written on or after 1 March, patients can ask their pharmacists to extend prescriptions from 6 months to a maximum of 12 months

Final Report

The final Report of the Taskforce was submitted in July 2024. The Taskforce made three overarching recommendations:

1. That pharmacists be enabled to exercise independent, autonomous prescriptive authority within and related to the individual practitioner’s scope of practice and competence.

2. This should be implemented in a stepwise manner, commencing with the introduction of a common conditions service, with pharmacists provided with prescriptive authority linked to the service and its parameters.

3. The development, over the coming years, of models of pharmacist prescribing within primary and secondary care settings, recognising the requirements for specific enablers.

Common Conditions Service

Common conditions services (often called minor ailments services) enable community pharmacists to provide advice and treat common and often self-limiting conditions in community pharmacies. This will enable community pharmacists to manage common conditions by offering self-care advice, safety-netting, and, when appropriate, supplying certain over the counter (OTC) and prescribing prescription-only medicines (POM) through established protocols.

As recommended by the Taskforce an initial list of eight conditions will be included to allow pharmacists working in a community pharmacy to provide treatment to patients:

1. Allergic Rhinitis

2. Cold Sores

3. Conjunctivitis

4. Impetigo

5. Oral Thrush

6. Shingles

7. Uncomplicated UTI / Cystitis

8. Vulvovaginal Thrush

The Implementation Oversight Group will be responsible for ensuring:

  • implementation of the Common conditions service
  • development and delivery of training for pharmacists
  • optimising operational aspects of the service
  • overseeing the development of the necessary secondary legislation
  • preparing and delivering communications to the public and other healthcare providers on these changes

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