Entry of Boots Pharmacy first in Ireland to Offer vaccines and other clinical services

Opinion Stephen McMahon Chairman Irish Patients Association

 

 

Dublin 8th July 2010 12:00

 

The days of some doctors charging patients for the free flu jab may be coming to an end.

 

The announcement by Boots Ireland today allowing their pharmacist’s to provide medicines and administer vaccines is to be welcomed. This announcement establishes a new player on the block offering some of the services currently provided by family doctors to patients.

 

Their first new service, flu vaccination, will help people avoid flu during the winter months and its potentially serious consequences.\Other services they plan to provide in the future will include travel vaccination. Malaria prevention and cholesterol management – However when compared to the United Kingdom many other services have the potential to be provided by community pharmacists. Such as cervical cancer, measles, MMR, Hep B and meningitis,. Weight loss, eczema, eye infections’, Chlamydia.

 

While Boots say that presently “initially customers will pay for these services and we hope to work with the HSE to also make these services available to medical card patients” the Irish Patients’ Association expects that these charges will be minimal and not reflect current Market charges. Last year Family doctors  giving the flu jab to medical card patients were paid €42.75c and the vaccine was supplied free of charge to them by the HSE, however the payment for H1N1 Swine flu jab was only €10.

 

Last year the HSE trained some 800 community pharmacy personnel in the community pharmacy sector at a cost of €250 each to be able to administer flu vaccines’ these additional resources when utilized should reduce the pressures on family doctors while at the same time reducing costs on already financially pressured patients and family’s and at the same time offering high quality care.