May 31st

So the last several days have been pretty uneventful...

Saturday I went into town for a bit and did a little bit of shopping. In the afternoon I watched a rugby final between 2 rival Irish teams & the Champions League final between Manchester United and Barcelona. I've got to say rugby is a lot more interesting to watch on TV than American football is because it's faster paced.

Sunday I went for a run into the city...which allowed me to explore more of the surrounding neighborhoods. Elaine invited some friends over in the evening for dinner so I chatted with them about random things.

This week I'm at the Beacon Pharmacy, another of the Farmer's Pharmacies. It's located in Sandyford right next to the UPMC Beacon Hospital. It's located in a "mall" which really isn't a mall at all. The building itself is all glass and it's built in a very convoluted manner...since people can never seem to figure out where they are going. Many of the people that stop in the pharmacy are there to ask for directions. Since the recession hit, most of the offices are empty...so it's pretty deserted and uninviting.

The pharmacy doesn't do all that many prescriptions because it really depends on the amount of people coming to the clinics located in the "mall." Most of the prescriptions filled at the pharmacy are for IVF (in vitro fertilization) medications since there is a consultants office nearby. Apparently there isn't an actual clinic that does the IVF in Ireland. Patients have to go to London, Prague, Copenhagen, etc to go for the consultation/procedure and then just see a consultant in Dublin to get prescription refills for the meds.

I was talking with the pharmacist about insurance/medical visits. Gov't funded patients can see the doctor for free, but everyone else has to pay. To see a doctor for an appointment in Dublin, you'd have to generally pay ~60-70 Euros, but if it's a private place (like UPMC Beacon) it can be ~120 Euro. Citizens can apply for the Drug Payment Scheme (DPS) to get some prescription coverage. After the patient/family pays 120 Euro out-of-pocket every month, the scheme will pick up the rest. So generally the IVF patients have the DPS since the meds are really expensive.