1300. Deputy Seán Kyne asked the Minister for Health if there is currently a system that allows prescribers of weight loss medication to identify whether a patient is receiving such medication from multiple prescribing providers; if an online private prescriber can see relevant prescription information issued by other providers; the identity-verification requirements that apply to online prescribing services; and the mechanisms for identifying repeated attempts to obtain medication after one provider has declined to prescribe. [65035/26]

Currently there is no simple means for prescribers to obtain visibility of prescriptions issued for the same patient, from other prescribers. This is true for all medications and is a very obvious gap that exists due to the historical way in which prescriptions were managed in this country. The requirement for paper prescriptions and wet signatures, which up until relatively recently was hard coded in legislation related to the issuance of prescriptions and subsequent dispensing activity within community pharmacies, was not helpful in this regard.

More recent developments in digital health are starting to change this now. The recently developed National Shared Care Record and the HSE Health App now provide visibility of medications that are reimbursed by the state and dispensed by community pharmacies. Patients can see these meds listed in the App and healthcare professionals registered to use the Shared Care Record (up to 2000 now since launch in Q4 2025) can do likewise using that system.

It is intended that all medications dispensed by pharmacies (not just those paid for by PCRS) will be included in the App and the Shared Care Record in the near future and, when the national Electronic Prescribing Service is deployed, it will be possible for the corresponding digital prescriptions to be included.

Whilst these initiatives are not specifically targeted at any one form of medication eg weight loss drugs - clearly they will include all meds dispensed by community pharmacies and as such, they should address the query being raised.

The topic related to online prescription services is more complex of course, but provided the medications are dispensed by a community pharmacy, visibility will be possible. Medications received via mail order/ online dispensing service is much more difficult to police and indeed, we understand there has been significant pushback against these services in a number of EU member states, for commercial as well as patient safety reasons.