PSI Annual Report 2024 is published

The PSI has published our Annual Report and Financial Statements for 2024, outlining the many ways we pursued, as pharmacy regulator, our core purpose of assuring patient safety and public trust by regulating pharmacists and pharmacies in Ireland.   

Key activities for the PSI during 2024 included:  

• Significant contribution to the Department of Health’s Expert Taskforce to support the expansion of the role of pharmacy resulting in recommendations empowering pharmacists to extend prescriptions and to prescribe within their scope of practice.
• Participation in the Community Pharmacy Expansion Implementation Oversight Group to oversee the delivery of a Common Conditions Service in community pharmacies, a recommendation of the Taskforce report.
• Progressing initiatives to ensure the sustainability of community pharmacy, through implementation of recommendations from the PSI’s Workforce Intelligence Report, including establishing a multi-stakeholder Future Pharmacy Workforce Group with the Department of Health.
• Development of a new PSI Corporate Strategy for 2025-2028.
• Launch of a new PSI website.
• Streamlining the Third Country Qualification Recognition Route (TCQR), the application process for non-EU pharmacists to apply for recognition to practise in Ireland.
• Registering 417 new pharmacists, bringing the total number of pharmacists eligible to practise in Ireland to 7,731 at the end of 2024.
• Maintaining the register of pharmacies, which at the end of the year numbered 1,989, an increase of four on 2023.
• Handling 78 formal complaints, an increase of 6% on the previous year, and improving the PSI’s online facility to make these complaints online.
• Conducting 347 risk-based pharmacy inspections.  

Commenting on the publication of the Annual Report, PSI Registrar and Chief Officer Joanne Kissane said, 

“We were pleased to continue our work as part of the Expert Taskforce to support the expansion of the role of pharmacy, established by the Minister for Health in 2023. It has been a long-term objective of the PSI and the Department of Health to expand the role of pharmacy, as part of an integrated healthcare system and to realise the vision as set out in Sláintecare to best meet patient needs within the community. As part of this, the PSI has very actively participated in initiatives which are integral to advancing the recommendations of the Expert Taskforce, bringing about changes in how care will be available through pharmacies into the future.” 

The first recommendation of the Taskforce – empowering pharmacists to extend certain prescriptions – came into legislative effect in March 2024. The PSI has supported legislative changes, developed resources including principle-based guidelines for pharmacists, and collaborated with the Irish Institute of Pharmacy to develop further training and practice supports for pharmacists. The final report of the Taskforce published in August 2024, included a recommendation to enable pharmacists to act as independent prescribers within and relating to their scope of practice and competence, to be implemented in a stepwise manner, beginning with a Common Conditions Service.  

“The final recommendations of the Taskforce marked another important milestone for pharmacy and its future direction. We were pleased to contribute to the final report, in collaboration with other stakeholders. The establishment of the Community Pharmacy Expansion Implementation Oversight Group to oversee the delivery of a Common Conditions Service in 2025 benefits from a range of clinical, regulatory, academic and policy colleagues’ expertise.  We are pleased to support its ongoing work.” 

The PSI remains focused on ensuring the sustainability of the pharmacy workforce, in collaboration with a range of pharmacy, health service, and policy partners. During 2024, the PSI sought to clarify governance roles and responsibilities in pharmacy with the publication of new guidance. 

Further to the Government decision to expand access to new healthcare training places last year, the PSI has been supporting the move to establish three new pharmacy programmes in the state. One of the PSI’s core functions is to evaluate, for accreditation purposes, programmes of education that lead to qualifications appropriate for practice as a pharmacist. There was important engagement with the higher education institutions in preparation for new programme accreditation visits. 

The core statutory functions of the PSI are documented in the annual report, including registration data, work in relation to compliance and complaint-handling.  

There was a continued increase in the Register of Pharmacists in 2024, with a total of 7,731 registered pharmacists at the end of the year. In 2024, there were 417 new pharmacist registrations. Of those newly registered pharmacists, 41% received their qualification from Irish universities. Other new registrants to Ireland have qualifications from 31 different countries worldwide. The total number of pharmacies registered was 1,989, an increase of four from the previous year.  

The PSI conducted 347 risk-based inspections last year, as well as 18 registration-related inspections for new pharmacy openings or changes in pharmacy ownership.  Risk-based inspections are undertaken following a review of information available to the regulator, and/or in the event of a member of the public or external body raising a concern. The PSI’s compliance role involves ensuring the safety of pharmacy care and services in accordance with legislative and regulatory requirements. 

As the body responsible for dealing with statutory complaints about pharmacists and pharmacies, the PSI received 78 complaints in 2024, up from 73 in 2023. The majority of these were made by members of the public. Not all complaints reach the threshold to be dealt with by an inquiry. Twenty hearings were conducted before the PSI’s Committees of Inquiry in 2024.  

In addition, the PSI reviewed and took actions to address general concerns raised with it about a range of pharmacy matters. Almost all (92%) of the 111 concerns came from members of the public. These concerns are expressed where someone does not wish to make a formal complaint but provides information to the PSI.  

The PSI also made inroads as part of its strategic objective to build its organisational capabilities and enhance its performance as a regulatory body, particularly its digital offering to the public. A new website was launched in the summer of 2024, offering significantly improved functionality and searchability for users. This is an important information platform for the public, including those registered or seeking to register as a pharmacist, or to open a pharmacy, as well as for those interested in pharmacist education or pharmacy resources provided by the PSI. Advancing its ongoing business transformation project, the regulator developed a new online facility, where people can submit their complaints, concerns or queries in relation to pharmacists and pharmacies.   

President of the PSI, Katherine Morrow, reflected on the achievements and future direction of the PSI, 

“This annual report is the last under our Corporate Strategy 2021-2024, and it marks the progression of several significant strategic work programmes in addition to delivering our significant functions as a regulatory body. During the year, the PSI Council also focused on the organisation’s future development and strategy for 2025-2028. This considers the evolving pharmacy and healthcare landscape and benefitted from broad public consultation. The PSI looks forward to continuing its remit to ensure continued trust in pharmacy through effective regulation, achieved successfully in collaboration with patients, and wider public, all those registered with PSI, and our many other stakeholders.”