THE GOVERNMENT IS telling the public that they can renew six-month prescriptions despite the fact the legislation was never agreed with one of the country’s largest chemist unions.

Legislation allowing pharmacists to extend the maximum legal validity of prescriptions from six to 12 months was announced over a year ago by the previous government.

It allows patients to receive a second, six-month prescription by renewing their medication order with a pharmacist. The legislation was activated in September, but backdated for medicines with six-month prescriptions issued last March.

The Journal understands that the arrangement was never agreed with the Irish Pharmacy Union (IPU), which represents roughly 2,300 individual chemists and 1,800 pharmacies around the country, including some of the nation’s largest chains.

In 2023, the Expert Taskforce to Support the Expansion of the Role of Pharmacists recommended that the measure be introduced to provide flexibility for patients, reduce the demand on primary care services and utilise the expertise of pharmacists more.

The measure can also reduce costs for patients who do not receive free GP care via a GP Visit or Medical card. It took just under five months for the Department of Health to take action on the recommendation, which included a number of exemptions for particular medicines.

The IPU said that while it welcomes the legislation and supports the aims of the changes, it says it will come at a cost to its members, including professional time and expertise, insurance and training.

A spokesperson for the union said they could not comment on the exact costs incurred by pharmacists for carrying out the extensions while mediation discussions with the Department of Health remain ongoing.

They told The Journal: “An agreement is required on the funding for new services before they can be implemented.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Health said discussions with the IPU on this issue remain ongoing and claimed that the state already invests over half-a-billion euro into community pharmacies, as of last year.

On the basis of that funding, Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill believes that pharmacists can do more for the health service and wants to see an expansion of services, the spokesperson said. She last met with the union in February.

Details of this row, or warnings that there is an ongoing dispute over the legislation, is not stated on any of the public information circulated online by the government or state agencies, leading to confusion among patients and customers.

One patient told The Journal that she attended multiple pharmacies seeking that her prescription be extended and was repeatedly refused. She was later told of the dispute between the union and the Department.

The Pharmacy Regulator does outline that pharmacists must decide if it is safe or suitable for a patient to have further supplies of a medicine, once their six-month prescription has expired.

This allows chemists to refuse or grant extensions on a case-by-case basis. The Department of Health has also confirmed that pharmacists are not legally required to offer the service.

Asked why any mention of the row between the IPU and the government is omitted from public websites, a spokesperson said that the Department of Health always encourages patients to discuss 12-month prescriptions with their GP.