Ms Maher’s panel discussion was entitled ‘Taking Action to Move Care Closer to Home’. Joining her on the panel were Tadhg Daly from Nursing Home Ireland; Dr Elizabeth Aitken, Consultant Physician in General & Elderly Medicine, Lewisham & Greenwich NHS Trust; and Dr John Cuddihy, National Director of Public Health, HSE.

Ms Maher underscored the invaluable contribution of community pharmacy to the healthcare sector. She emphasised the untapped potential that could be unlocked with adequate resources for pharmacies, highlighting the urgent need to address the inequality stemming from the 16-year fee freeze.

Ms Maher also seized the opportunity to inform the large audience that there is more that pharmacies can do to support patients, particularly around minor ailments and accessing contraception. She emphasised that allowing pharmacists to therapeutically substitute would go some way to alleviating ongoing medicine shortages. She also flagged the urgent requirement for recruiting a Chief Pharmaceutical Officer to develop policy and strategy at Departmental level, and to enable change and full utilisation of community pharmacists.  You can watch the full panel discussion at ipu.ie/national-health-summit-2024.