Michael McHale , 2025-04-15 12:04:00
Commitment made without agreement with Irish Pharmacy Union, Department of Health says
Women will be able to access hormone replacement therapy (HRT) from June 1 for free, the Government has today announced.
The move comes after a long-running dispute with pharmacists that has seen the rollout of the scheme delayed.
Free HRT had previously been promised from January 1 this year, but issues arose around who would pay for pharmacists’ dispensing fees. Today’s announcement aims to resolve that dispute, with the Government committing to covering a €5 fee per product.
“I have written to all community pharmacies today asking that they support and facilitate the women in their communities to access State-funded HRT products and medicines,” said Health Minister Jennifer Carrol MacNeill.
“In doing so, I am committed to supporting each participating pharmacy by paying them a €5 dispensing fee per HRT medicine/product dispensed to all eligible patients, including those existing patients under the GMS/DPS Schemes and for all other patients prescribed HRT (‘private patients’), and a €1,000 once-off grant to every participating community pharmacy.”
She added: “I have set the 1st of June as the date for commencement of this support. This will allow participating pharmacies time to be ready to facilitate the free HRT scheme to their customers.”
The announcement comes one day after pharmacy regulator the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI) committed to developing new guidelines on the transparency of pricing in respect of services provided by pharmacies.
Welcoming that news, the Minister described the current lack of public awareness of dispensing fees as a ‘transparency issue’ and ‘not as clear as we should expect in 2025’.
As part of this work, the PSI will work on drafting statutory guidelines that will aim to provide public clarity on the range and amount of dispensing fees charged, and the itemising of such fees on customer receipts.
Today’s announcement did not come with approval from the Irish Pharmacy Union (IPU), which the Department of Health has been in discussions with as part of efforts to resolve the fees issue.
In a statement, the Department said it had offered the IPU the option of covering the cost of a €5 dispensing fee per HRT product and a €1,000 once-off grant, or a €3,000 once-off grant to every participating community pharmacy.
“These offers did not lead to an agreement with the IPU,” the statement said.
The HSE will today notify all community pharmacies of the reimbursement arrangements, the process for participation and the mechanism to receive the €1,000 grant.
An information campaign will also begin in the coming days providing further information for patients. The prescription charges for medical card holders in relation to HRT medicines and products on the reimbursement list would also be abolished.