3289. Deputy Brian Stanley asked the Minister for Health if she will consider allowing pharmacists to administer HRT to women who have had their primary consultation and initial prescription with their GP; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [55644/26]

Following the first recommendation of the Expert Taskforce to Support the Expansion of the Role of Pharmacy (which recommended to enable pharmacists to extend prescriptions), amendments were made to certain Regulations.

Since 1 September 2024, due to amendments to the Regulation of Retail Pharmacy Businesses Regulations 2008 and the Medicinal Products (Prescription and Control of Supply) Regulations 2003, pharmacists can extend prescriptions written for six months for up to a further six months where, in their professional judgement, it is safe and appropriate to do so and once defined criteria have been met.

Pharmacists may make use of these regulatory amendments to extend a patient’s prescription, in certain circumstances, provided all the defined criteria are met and PSI guidelines are followed (www.psi.ie/practice-supports/guidance-and-guidelines-pharmacists-and-pharmacies/guidelines-support-medicine). This may include pharmacist consideration of extending a prescription for HRT to women who have had their primary consultation and initial prescription with their GP.

These advancements have been important contributions in better utilising the knowledge and experience of community pharmacists, as well as bringing healthcare closer to home for patients throughout the country, in line with Sláintecare objectives.

The overarching recommendations from the Final Report of the Expert Taskforce are as follows:

1. That pharmacists be enabled to exercise independent, autonomous prescriptive authority within and related to the individual practitioner’s scope of practice and competence.

2. This should be implemented in a stepwise manner, commencing with the introduction of a common conditions service, with pharmacists provided with prescriptive authority linked to the service and its parameters. The Common Conditions Service officially launched on 19 January 2026 and it enables community pharmacists to provide treatment, including certain prescription-only medicines, for eight specified common health conditions.

3. The development, over the coming years, of models of pharmacist prescribing within primary and secondary care settings, recognising the requirements for specific enablers.

The introduction of prescription extension by pharmacists and subsequently , the launch of the Common Conditions Service are important milestones in this stepwise approach to independent prescriptive authority for pharmacists in the future, as recommended by the Expert Taskforce to Support the Expansion of the Role of Pharmacy.