THE MORNING-AFTER pill will be made available over the counter here for the first time tomorrow.
The prescription-only medicine will be offered to patients without them first having to see a doctor under a new initiative being taken by the Boots pharmacy chain.
It spotted that an amendment to legislation in 2005 meant emergency contraception could be offered by pharmacists if they worked under a protocol drawn up by a doctor.
Until now, women in the Republic seeking emergency contraception first had to go to their GP for a prescription.
There had been many calls from the Irish Family Planning Association and other groups for the medicine to be made available over the counter, like in Britain and several other European countries, in order to make it more accessible, particularly at weekends.
The morning-after pill prevents conception if taken within 72 hours of intercourse.
Boots says pharmacists will offer emergency contraception at 49 of its 50 stores from tomorrow. It will be offered to women over the age of 18 years for a €45 charge, which in many instances will be cheaper for private patients than seeing a GP.
Mary Rose Burke, chief pharmacist with Boots Ireland, said its move was founded in 2005 legislation. “It provided that it wouldn’t be contrary to the legislation for a person to administer a medicine to another person provided they do so under written direction of a doctor,” she said.
Boots’s protocol or “patient group direction” for providing the service has been authorised by its medical director Dr Graham Marshal, who is based in Britain but registered with the Irish Medical Council.
Before this, the main reason cited for the morning-after pill not being made more freely available in Ireland was that neither of the manufacturers of the two morning-after pills licensed in the State had applied to the Irish Medicines Board to have it made available over the counter.
Ms Burke said any woman seeking emergency contraception from Boots would have a private consultation with a pharmacist who would offer appropriate information in relation to sexually transmitted infections and refer the woman to a doctor if necessary to advise her on her long-term contraceptive needs.
The Irish Medicines Board said emergency contraception was confined to prescription control, but under section 4A(1)(c) of the Medicinal Products (Prescription and Control of Supply) Regulations 2003 as amended, “there is scope for medicinal products to be dispensed under the direction of a registered medical practitioner”.
The Department of Health said it was seeking clarifications from Boots with regard to the provision of the service.
“Any such services provided by Boots or others must be in compliance with the law and regulation 4A(c) in particular,” it said.
Boots already used this regulation to administer seasonal flu vaccines this winter.
The Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland, the pharmacy regulator, indicated it did not have a difficulty with the move as long as staff received training, patients were seen in private consultation areas and all necessary clinical governance elements were in place and the service was operated in accordance with the law.
Dr Mel Bates of the Irish College of General Practitioners said he had concerns the move was downgrading the importance of a consultation for emergency contraception. “The moment you increase access to any service, you increase demand for it,” he said.
“I think general practice is the best place for this,” he added.