The HSE drugs group recently held additional meetings after failing to reach a quorum at its May session.
According to the minutes from the group’s meeting in June, the May session had to be postponed due to the lack of quorum.
The drugs group serves as the HSE’s national committee responsible for recommending pricing and reimbursement decisions for medicines.
The group reviews evidence and makes recommendations to the HSE senior leadership team.
A HSE spokesperson told the Medical Independent (MI) that the failure to meet the quorum in May was not because of current vacancies in the group. “All of the clinical and HSE members of the drugs group have significant roles in clinical and operational services and on this occasion a number of existing drugs group members were unavailable.”
The spokesperson added that it was a once-off issue “due to the unavoidable unavailability of a number of members”.
“The drugs group held two additional meetings (July and August 2024) over and above those planned.”
The spokesperson added that there are currently two membership vacancies on the group.
In August, MI reported that pharmacist staff at the HSE corporate pharmaceutical unit (CPU) were working under “significant pressure” because of resource challenges. The CPU is the interface between the HSE and the pharmaceutical industry in relation to medicine pricing, reimbursement applications, and the operation of national pricing framework agreements.
At a meeting of the HSE drugs group in February, members “acknowledged” the CPU resource challenges.
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