CarePlus Pharmacy welcome three new franchise members

The goal of CarePlus is maximum turnover and margin return for your pharmacy. Three pharmacy owners who have recently come on board are Eugene & Róisín Daly, of Dooradoyle CarePlus Pharmacy; Bernardo Viana of Pophams Road CarePlus Pharmacy, Cork and Ronan O’Farrell of College Road CarePlus Pharmacy, Cork.

Eugene and Róisín Daly are also the proud owners of Keating’s CarePlus Pharmacy in Dooradoyle, Limerick and Mahers CarePlus Pharmacy in Thurles, Co. Tipperary. Their new franchise store, Dooradoyle CarePlus Pharmacy, is in a prime location, directly beside University Hospital Limerick.

Ronan O’Farrell is new to the franchise group, with College Road CarePlus Pharmacy located right next to UCC on College Road, Cork. Ronan is due to open another CarePlus Pharmacy in the coming months.

Bernardo Viana is also new to the group, recently purchasing Pophams Road Pharmacy in Farranree, Co. Cork, and re-branding the store as a CarePlus Pharmacy.

We are thrilled to welcome three new owners to the franchise and are excited to see their stores thrive.

As Irish Pharmacy News was going to press, the public consultation to gather views about expanding the role of pharmacists in Ireland was closing.

On 24 July 2023, the Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly established an Expert Taskforce to create polices that will enable the expansion of the role of pharmacists in Ireland. The aims of expanding the role of pharmacists are to:

• Improve access to healthcare for people
• Reduce the workload for doctors in general practice
• Increase the healthcare services which pharmacists can provide for people

The Taskforce has identified pharmacists prescribing some medications as a potential expansion of the role of pharmacists. For example, pharmacists prescribing under a Common Conditions Scheme. Under such a scheme, pharmacists would be able to prescribe and supply some prescription-only medicines for uncomplicated conditions, without the need for a doctor’s visit. Pharmacists prescribing has been done in other countries for common conditions such as, sore throat, uncomplicated urinary tract infections, common skin infections such as impetigo.

The Taskforce conducted a Public Consultation to gather views about a Common Conditions Scheme and about the expansion of the role of pharmacists generally. The results will help the Pharmacy Taskforce develop recommendations about expanding the role of pharmacists in Ireland. We will carry full details of the outcome and next steps in the August issue.