Recent updates in medicines and pharmacy legislation will allow community pharmacies to digitalise several records. From 30 June 2026, community pharmacies will be able, if they wish, to maintain the following documentation in electronic format:
As a result, community pharmacies will no longer be required to:
Please note that before community pharmacies can cease the printing of the prescriptions above mentioned or the prescription register (daily audit), pharmacy software providers (vendors) will have to make changes to pharmacy software.
The PSI will be launching a public consultation of a PSI draft record keeping guideline. The PSI Council approved version will support community pharmacies with the implementation of these new practices.
The IPU will continue to inform members of updates on the implementation of these regulatory amendments through articles published in this magazine and other IPU communication channels.
The IPU- Professional Services webpage has been updated to include information about the National Public Health Campaigns that pharmacies agreed to promote as part of the Community Pharmacy Agreement 2025. The three agreed campaigns are:
By supporting these campaigns community pharmacies will enhance access to existing public health services and empower patients to take control of their health and make healthier choices.
Digital assets for the Pregnancy and Alcohol campaign, which is currently running, can be downloaded from the IPU website at ipu.ie > Support > Marketing Campaigns and posters and leaflets can be ordered from healthpromotion.ie.
Further information on the implementation and promotion of these national health campaigns is available at ipu.ie > Professional > National Public Health Campaigns
**Useful reference source
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Phonetic (sound-alike) drug names and orthographic (look-alike) product packaging can cause confusion, resulting in potentially harmful medication errors. The term LASA (Look-Alike, Sound-Alike) is also used.
The Irish Medication Safety Network (IMSN) published a briefing document on SALADs in the hospital setting in 2024. Many of the principles also apply to primary care. There have been many cases, both nationally and internationally, some with fatal outcomes, in which patients have received the wrong medicine due to confusion between similarly named, sounding, or look-alike brand and generic names. SALAD errors make up a high proportion of all medication errors; estimates range from 6 per cent to 15 per cent of all medication incidents, representing a significant threat to patient safety.
The IMSN’s Briefing Document on Sound-Alike Look-Alike Drugs (SALADs) in the Hospital Setting, which can be accessed at imsn.ie/salads, explores a range of contributing factors, including drug names, handwriting, electronic systems, packaging and product shortages. Strategies for risk reduction are also discussed, including staff awareness and education, segregation of salad pairs, reporting procedures, and dispensing processes.
The IMSN also produced a SALAD Bar (also available at imsn.ie/salads), which is a list of reported SALAD drugs derived from multiple sources. This is a really useful tool, and from this, you can produce your own locally relevant SALAD list for your pharmacy.
In addition, the UK Community Pharmacy Patient Safety Group have some really useful resources available at pharmacysafety.org > LASA medicines, including a poster on ‘Minimising the Risk of Look-Alike Sound-Alike Medicines in Community Pharmacy’.
**External references are provided for information purposes only. IPU takes no responsibility whatsoever for the accuracy of the contents of, or information contained in, these references. Neither does IPU make any representation that the information contained at the link is appropriate or suitable for use in an Irish community pharmacy setting, or that it complies with any legal or regulatory requirements as they apply to community pharmacy practice in Ireland. Pharmacists should ensure that in all cases they use their own independent professional judgement, taking into account the individual circumstances that apply for their patient(s) and practice setting.
Pharmacists who have completed the Common Conditions Service (CCS) training, can only prescribe the medicines outlined on schedule 13 of the Medicinal Products (Prescription and Control of Supply) Regulations, as amended. There will be times in which a pharmacist may prescribe an unlicensed medicine in accordance with the CCS Protocols relevant to a particular ailment. The legislation was amended to enable this activity; however, pharmacists must be aware that there are additional responsibilities associated with the prescription of unlicensed medicines.
Further information on this matter is available at:
Tara Kelly MPSI, Medicines Information Pharmacist, IPU; Lara MarÃn MPSI, Professional Services Pharmacist, IPU; and Sinéad McCool MPSI, Professional Services/IPU Professional Academy, IPU
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