Pádraig Rice
Ceist:665. Deputy Pádraig Rice asked the Minister for Health the annual cost to the State of reimbursement for monitored dosing systems, or blister packs; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [73487/25]
Amharc ar fhreagraThursday, 18 December 2025
Ceisteanna (665)
Freagraí scríofa
Monitored 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 monitored dosage systems 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.
As I stated in the Dáil on 16 December 2025, further analysis is required to determine to what extent the phased dispensing arrangements - which is funded for medical card holders under certain criteria - have been used in lieu of the provision of MDS (known as blister packing), a practice that would be classed as inappropriate claiming.