Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 18 December 2025
660. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Question No. 264 of 3 December 2025, if measures will be taken with the changes in prices of blister packs from January 2026 to counter the impact for vulnerable patients (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [73451/25]
View answerMonitored Dosage Systems (MDS), known as “blister packs” or compliance aids, are systems that enable the individual medicine doses for any medication to be organised according to the prescribed dose schedule. These are ordinarily provided once a month and packaged to indicate when medication should be taken.
The State has never agreed to fund this and there has never been a fee associated with MDS under the Pharmacy contract. This has always been the case and has been repeated in several HSE circulars to pharmacists.
The State has not imposed a new charge on MDS, also known as “blister packs”. This remains a private service provided by pharmacies. It is also understood that different approaches are taken by community pharmacies in respect of funding the use of MDS for medical card holders.
- Some have been blister packing their patient’s medicines for free,
- Some have been charging the patient privately for providing that service, and,
- Some have submitted claims for phased dispensing to the HSE when in reality they were using MDS. The State has never agreed to this last practice, and it is inappropriate claiming to do so.
The new Community Pharmacy Agreement 2025, which was negotiated by the Department of Health, the Health Service Executive, and the Irish Pharmacy Union, was published in September 2025. The Agreement reiterated the long-standing position of the State that MDS, were not reimbursable under the General Medical Services (GMS) Scheme, or any other State scheme.
Under the landmark agreement, a new Strategic Collaboration Group will be established in early 2026 to provide a structured forum for joint consideration of strategic issues shaping the future of community pharmacy in Ireland. A key pillar of this is a dedicated fund allocated to progressing opportunities to improve or expand community pharmacy services in relation to medicines optimisation. This new structured collaborative process will help to design and deliver evidence-informed high impact medicines optimisation services to patients and support future opportunities for service investment.
