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Blister Pack Charge - Medical Card

  • 16-04-2019 8:51pm
    #1
    irishgal21
    Registered Users Posts: 19 ✭


    Hi all, does anyone know if you are entitled to free blister packing in a chemist if you have a medical card. I've noticed some chemists charge up to €10 per month while others do it for free for medical card holders.

    Is it up to the individual chemists to charge or not ( to be competitive ) or is there an actual law that no chemist should be charging ?

    Thx


Comments

  • #2
    Memory101
    Registered Users Posts: 16 ✭Memory101


    irishgal21 wrote: »
    Hi all, does anyone know if you are entitled to free blister packing in a chemist if you have a medical card. I've noticed some chemists charge up to €10 per month while others do it for free for medical card holders.

    Is it up to the individual chemists to charge or not ( to be competitive ) or is there an actual law that no chemist should be charging ?

    Thx

    Blister packing by pharmacies is an entirely private enterprise and it's totally up to the pharmacy whether they charge or not.

    Some patients are entitled to 'phased dispensing ' based on strict criteria. This gives an extra fee to the pharmacy to supply medication on more than one occasion per month, usually weekly. However it does not mean blister packing, just multiple supplies. Some pharmacies may use this fee to subsidise 'free' weekly blister packing but again it's entirely at the discretion of the pharmacy.


  • #3
    irishgal21
    Registered Users Posts: 19 ✭irishgal21


    Great, thx for that explanation.

    Its quite confusing when you see pharmacy's advertising "free blister packing to all medical card holders" giving the impression that its a service that all medical card holders are entitled too everywhere.


  • #4
    Moyglish
    Registered Users Posts: 725 ✭✭✭Moyglish


    May I ask please what is blister packing?


  • #5
    RoamingDoc
    Registered Users Posts: 173 ✭✭RoamingDoc


    Moyglish wrote: »
    May I ask please what is blister packing?

    You know when you have a normal "card" of tablets and you push the tablet out to be able to take it?

    It's like that except you have multiple tablets in each little bubble.
    The bubbles are popped open and the tablets are taken out at selected times of the day for every day of the week e.g. breakfast on Monday.

    This is to help people who take different doses at different times or only take certain medications on some days.

    So instead of the person reading the pharmacist labels telling when to take, they have just one pack to attend to. Most useful when people find it hard to follow the instructions or if they have difficulty remembering to take their medications.


  • #6
    angeldelight
    Registered Users Posts: 5,175 ✭✭✭angeldelight


    irishgal21 wrote: »
    Great, thx for that explanation.

    Its quite confusing when you see pharmacy's advertising "free blister packing to all medical card holders" giving the impression that its a service that all medical card holders are entitled too everywhere.

    I think it reads more as that’s something that particular pharmacy offers for free rather than a service all people with medical cards are entitled to everywhere


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  • #7
    myshirt
    Registered Users Posts: 5,245 ✭✭✭myshirt


    Do you realise how much they make in dispensary fees from a blister pack versus giving you the medicine in the box?

    Outrageous it is, and it has to stop. If you have a medical card you should not be asking for the blister pack unless you are paying it yourself.


  • #8
    RoamingDoc
    Registered Users Posts: 173 ✭✭RoamingDoc


    myshirt wrote: »
    Do you realise how much they make in dispensary fees from a blister pack versus giving you the medicine in the box?

    Outrageous it is, and it has to stop. If you have a medical card you should not be asking for the blister pack unless you are paying it yourself.

    But they are paying for it themselves? :confused::confused:
    See below:
    Memory101 wrote: »
    Blister packing by pharmacies is an entirely private enterprise and it's totally up to the pharmacy whether they charge or not.


    As it happens, I've generally only encountered blister packing for patients who find the instructions confusing or who have carers who might not always be able to keep up with changing medication regimens.

    In that case, I actually do think that we should be paying pharmacies to blister pack as it's a patient safety issue at that point.

    Medication mistakes are a common reason for hospital admission and given the polypharmic nature of a lot of older patients, this would be a better option.


  • #9
    mickdw
    Registered Users Posts: 23,256 ✭✭✭✭mickdw


    Sounds like a fantastic service to be fair.
    I'd imagine it's a significant undertaking to package meds in this form and requires significant checks by pharmacist.


  • #10
    Graces7
    Registered Users Posts: 32,634 ✭✭✭✭Graces7


    mickdw wrote: »
    Sounds like a fantastic service to be fair.
    I'd imagine it's a significant undertaking to package meds in this form and requires significant checks by pharmacist.

    excellent service that should be available for safety reasons. I had never heard of it before. I know you can buy special containers in pharmacies etc?


  • #11
    LizzeyBenett
    Closed Accounts Posts: 33 ✭LizzeyBenett


    irishgal21 wrote: »
    Hi all, does anyone know if you are entitled to free blister packing in a chemist if you have a medical card. I've noticed some chemists charge up to €10 per month while others do it for free for medical card holders.

    Is it up to the individual chemists to charge or not ( to be competitive ) or is there an actual law that no chemist should be charging ?

    Thx

    Your doctor has to request it in order for the pharmacy to do it FOC it has to be very specifically written and worded by the doctor on the prescription and this also means you would collect weekly as its the way the health board has it set up and only way they will pay the pharmacy a fee for them doing it, I work in pharmacy and we don't charge but we also take a hit on it as it takes a lot of extra work and time as well as paying for the materials to blister medication for so many patients so i can see why you would be charged if your doctor hasn't deemed it necessary.


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  • #12
    Slieve Gullion
    Registered Users Posts: 171 ✭✭Slieve Gullion


    I started this thread this morning but i've found my answer here. Thank you to all.

    https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2058058510


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