{"id":106523,"date":"2025-05-16T14:47:08","date_gmt":"2025-05-16T14:47:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/106523\/"},"modified":"2025-05-16T14:47:08","modified_gmt":"2025-05-16T14:47:08","slug":"free-hrt-widely-available-in-pharmacies-from-june-after-agreement-reached-with-department-of-health-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/106523\/","title":{"rendered":"Free HRT widely available in pharmacies from June after agreement reached with Department of Health \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Irish Pharmacy Union<\/a> (IPU) has endorsed a revised scheme to provide free hormone replacement therapy (HRT) from pharmacies from this June, after the Department of Health<\/a> increased the grant funding paid to participating pharmacists.<\/p>\n

HRT is prescribed to treat the symptoms of menopause<\/a> and perimenopause in women, replacing the hormones that decline during the later years of a woman\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

There are different types of HRT treatment, which can come in the form of tablets, skin patches, gels and vaginal creams or pessaries.<\/p>\n

In last year\u2019s budget, it was pledged this would be made available for free to all women who need it from January 1st, 2025. <\/p>\n

However, negotiations were ongoing between the pharmacy union and the department about how the scheme would operate, which has delayed the implementation of the scheme<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In April, Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill<\/a> announced a voluntary opt-in scheme for the free provision of the treatment for pharmacies from June 1st, but the IPU did not support it, describing it as unviable for businesses.<\/p>\n

It is understood only 100 pharmacies had signed up to the scheme prior to the revision, creating concerns about the widespread availability of the medication after this June date.<\/p>\n

In an update on Friday, however, the Minister announced an agreement had been reached with the union.<\/p>\n

Under the new arrangement, a pharmacy will receive a dispensing fee of \u20ac5 per HRT item, and a \u20ac2,000 once-off grant to support transition arrangements including ICT system upgrades. Previously, a grant of \u20ac1,000 was offered.<\/p>\n

In a statement, Ms Carroll MacNeill said she is \u201cdelighted\u201d the scheme will offer women HRT \u201ccompletely free of charge\u201d from June.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the full support of the IPU for the free HRT scheme, I anticipate that every pharmacy will now sign up, which I warmly welcome,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur pharmacists and community pharmacies are pillars of the community. They are the most accessible healthcare profession and are hugely trusted by the public.\u201c<\/p>\n

The news of the endorsement of the HRT scheme comes after the Minister the commencement of talks under a new framework agreement with the Department of Health and Health Service Executive<\/a> aimed at securing the sustainable future of pharmacy services. <\/p>\n

The agreement includes commitments to review pharmacy fees, reduce administrative burdens, and support digitalisation. It also paves the way for the much-anticipated expansion of pharmacy services to prescribe medications for a number of common conditions.<\/p>\n

Tom Murray, president of the IPU, said the union\u2019s \u201cmain priority\u201d with the HRT scheme has been to ensure women receive the medication they need without cost. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are endorsing the scheme in good faith, backed by the broader commitments in this framework, including a review of the pharmacy fee structure.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Irish Pharmacy Union (IPU) has endorsed a revised scheme to provide free hormone replacement therapy (HRT) from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":106524,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4315],"tags":[34912,105,21110,48803,16949,4326,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-106523","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-medication","8":"tag-department-of-health","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-hse","11":"tag-irish-pharmacy-union","12":"tag-jennifer-carroll-macneill","13":"tag-medication","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114518061389225639","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106523\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}