Latest Articles
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Important COVID-19 resources for healthcare professionals
With the first case of COVID-19 now confirmed in Ireland it's important to stay abreast of the latest developments. Let's start with some statistics. Incubation period It is widely reported that the incubation period for SARS-CoV-2 is between 2 to 14 days, however there are also reports of up to... -
Can pharmacies exchange medicines when they have excess stock?
Can pharmacies exchange medicines when they have excess stock? Managing pharmacy stock in a way that ensures uninterrupted supply to as many patients as possible, while also maintaining manageable stock levels, has always been challenging, but became even more so with the introduction of the 10-day... -
Centralisation of the Drugs Payment Scheme
Some of us though this day would never come, but it's official now, the administration of the Drugs Payment Scheme (DPS) is just days away from finally being centralised. Starting on 26th November 2018, you can contact the National Medical Card Unit, PCRS whenever you have an issue relating to the... -
Forged Prescriptions (Confirmed and Suspected)
As the number of forged prescriptions increases so does the need to do something about it. This is an attempt to catalog known and suspected forged prescriptions to enable easier identification of same. Please feel free to email additional examples to us by replying to your registration... -
New Phased Dispensing Arrangements - May 2017
In their effort to reduce medical expenditure, the HSE has brought in additional administrative barriers to phased dispensing. They were communicated to the pharmacists in the Circular 013/17 on 10 April 2017, which is reproduced below (our emphasis). These validation arrangements for submitting... -
Summary of Changes in the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2017
It's probably fair to say that the recent changes made to the Misuse of Drugs Regulations by the Department of Health came as a bit of a surprise to everyone. They take effect from 4th May 2017 and are summarised below as per PSI guidance. The 2017 Regulations are not yet available on the Irish... -
NIO Advice Re: Use of Antipyretics Before and After Childhood Immunisations
The National Immunisation Office (NIO) has been made aware that parents may have been given conflicting advice about the use of ibuprofen in children after vaccination, and would like to clarify the difference between the following two situations. 1. The recommendation for the prophylactic use of ... -
How Can I Re-Order HSE Summary Claim Forms?
Summary Claim Forms or Summary of Claims Certificates as they are refered to in the HSE Circular No. 042/16 can be re-ordered via the HSE's Pharmacy Application Suite. You can also order additional supplies of the following items via the same method: Unified Claim Forms GMS Summary Forms DPS... -
Are compression stockings available on GMS?
According to the National framework for the administration of discretionary hardship arrangements circular dated 10th October 2016, Q.6 on page 4 confirms that elastic stockings are available on the Hardship scheme, supported by a GP prescription. A maximum quantity of 2 pairs will be approved per... -
Irish CPD System Overview - Video Interview with Rachel Dungan
Rachel Dungan is a peer review pharmacist with IIOP and an expert on the Irish CPD system. In this exclusive ICPhA video interview, we asked Rachel to explain to us the principles behind the Irish CPD system and how we can best meet our CPD obligations as Irish registered pharmacists.