Cork TD says community pharmacy agreement is an 'important step forward'

A Cork TD has said that the community pharmacy agreement 2025 marks “an important step forward” in the provision of healthcare across the country.

The agreement, which was reached between representatives of Government and the Irish Pharmacy Union (IPU) last week, sets out a comprehensive pathway to modernise and expand the role of community pharmacists.

Key features of the agreement include the expansion of services for patients, seeing community pharmacists playing a greater role in contraception, immunisation, bowel screening, and the safe return and disposal of unused medicines; further investment of €25m for the remainder of 2025 and €50m for 2026 to support fee adjustments, service development, and training; and a focus on digital integration to support national eHealth reforms, including the National e-Prescription Service and National Electronic Health Record.

Speaking to The Echo, Kathy Maher, who is the chair of the pharmacy contractors committee at the IPU, said the agreement represents “an excellent step” towards greater healthcare across Cork.

“This [agreement] is the first step in a long number of years to get improvements on dispensing fees, which have been frozen since 2009, and also recognition of the key roles and skills of pharmacists in Cork to enable them to expand their practice,” said Ms Maher.

“They [pharmacists] will now be able to provide services that they hadn’t before, and the first one of those will be the common conditions service, which is a really exciting new service for people in the Cork area.

“The common conditions service is an
acknowledgement and recognition of the
clinical expertise of a pharmacist, and it will allow pharmacists to further use their skills and knowledge to provide people with the right access, right care, at the right time, and in the right place.

“This service will initially start with eight conditions, including allergic rhinitis, cold sores, conjunctivitis, impetigo, oral thrush, shingles, urinary tract infections, and vaginal thrush.

“Under these conditions, it means that patients can come in for a clinical consultation in the pharmacy’s consultation room, they [the pharmacist] will follow protocols and then, if necessary, they can provide treatment.

“If the pharmacist feels that a prescription medicine is the best thing to treat, they won’t have to refer the patient to a GP or consultant — which is the exciting part.”

Fine Gael Cork North Central TD, Colm Burke, said the agreement is “an important step forward in building resilience and ensuring timely access to care for patients in Cork”.

He said: “Community pharmacies, trusted by many and on the frontline of our healthcare system, will now be able to expand services, play a greater role in areas like immunisation and bowel screening, and will allow for the safe return and disposal of unused medication.”

Pharmacists looking to participate in the scheme have been asked to provide a formal expression of interest to the IPU by December 1, with a commitment to beginning the service before the end of March 2026.