'Insulting' - Women won't receive cash-back for HRT treatment amid controversial delay

Failure to reimburse women across Ireland for Hormone Replacement Treatment (HRT) that was last year promised to be free by then Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has been slammed as "insulting".

Legislation that was included in this year's Budget to provide the free treatment came into effect on January 1 but nationwide implementation was delayed due to disagreements between Government and the Irish Pharmacy Union (IPU).

Complexity of schemes and fees fuelled the row between the two which delayed the free treatment for thousands of women across the country.

Now, Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill has assured women that the treatment will be free from June 1, excluding a dispensing fee of five euro.

HRT is a medicine-based treatment used to relieve symptoms of menopause and perimenopause and costs women nearly €250 every month.

The IPU have said there have been multiple engagements with Government and have said that "prospects are poor" when it comes to a majority of pharmacies across Ireland participating in the scheme and that pharmacies are at "breaking point" when it comes to taking on "loss-making services for the State".

The Health Minister has assured pharmacies that the Government is prepared to pay a once-off €1000 grant to each participating pharmacy in order to cap the dispensing fee at €5 instead of the usual €7 to €10 fee.

Several women across the country called in to the Joe Duffy show to challenge the minister on the delays and ask her how she can assure them that all pharmacies will agree to the new scheme come June 1.

The Minister replied by saying that she "hoped" all pharmacies would want to be involved in the scheme and to get the ball rolling on the important treatment.

The Minister also went on to say that she wants to roll out more schemes in pharmacies to generate revenue including diagnoses from expert pharmacies for a fee to save them from seeing a GP.

Previous Health Minster Stephen Donnelly lauded the €20m scheme for the free treatment throughout the general election campaign with the measures being heavily featured in Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael's manifesto at the time.

When asked did she discuss the issue with Mr Donnelly, Jennifer Carroll MacNeil said no because she 'just wanted to get on with it".

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