Level of prescription opioid use in Mayo under the GMS scheme revealed

The level of prescription opioid use in Mayo under the General Medical Services (GMS) scheme has been revealed.

The average annual defined daily doses (DDDs) per 1,000 GMS-eligible people in the county between 2018–2025 is 13,831.

The statistic has been highlighted by RTÉ Investigates.

The estimated consumption of opioid pain medication under the GMS scheme increased by more than 10% between 2018 and 2025, according to RTÉ Investigates' analysis of HSE data.

Approximately 1.5 million people, or around 30% of the population, are eligible for the General Medical Services (GMS) scheme, the country's main community drug scheme.

Between 2018 and 2025, the State spent €316 million on opioid prescriptions across the GMS and two other community drug schemes: the Long Term Illness (LTI) scheme and the Drugs Payment Scheme (DPS). Most of this expenditure, €271 million was through the GMS.

Data released to RTÉ Investigates under Freedom Of Information shows that more than 17 million opioid prescriptions were recorded under the three schemes during this period.

Of these, 15 million were recorded under the GMS.

The annual number of opioid prescriptions across the three schemes increased by 18% between 2018 and 2025.

On average, more than two million prescriptions were recorded each year, RTÉ Investigates confirmed.