Pharmacies warned of legal action

THE HSE is threatening legal proceedings against a dozen pharmacies that it says are breaking contracts by refusing to fill prescriptions for patients on State drug schemes.

As the war of words yesterday intensified between the HSE and several hundred pharmacists who have withdrawn from State drug schemes, Government sources again ruled out any mediation in the dispute.

In a strongly-worded letter sent to a small number of pharmacists, mostly outside Dublin, the HSE warns that any pharmacy with an agreement which is not open for State drug schemes business during normal working hours or which refuses to fill prescriptions from any patient is breaching its legal obligation and deliberately neglecting its duty of care.

“We are writing to those who are not meeting these fundamental obligations,” said Patrick Burke, head of the HSE’s primary care reimbursement scheme.

“If we do not receive a satisfactory response we will have no other option than to seek to enforce our legal rights on behalf of taxpayers through the courts. We will also be seeking all costs associated with this remedy.”

A number of provincial pharmacies have been telling customers they will deal with existing customers only, while others have closed at times over the five days of the dispute even though they have contracts with the HSE.

According to the HSE, almost 500, or just under a quarter of all chemists, have withdrawn from the State scheme over €133 million cutbacks in fees to pharmacists introduced last month, while about 1,100 are still operating.

There were widespread reports of queues and other problems yesterday at the nine emergency dispensaries set up by the HSE to offer an alternative to pharmacies.

The Irish Pharmacy Union (IPU) said the HSE had closed the emergency dispensary it established in Cahirciveen, Co Kerry, leaving patients with nowhere to go. The HSE admitted there were “teething problems”, but said patients were getting proper standards of care.

Mr Burke said it was extremely unjust and wrong for a pharmacy to “cherrypick” aspects of the agreement it wanted to deliver “with the sole objective of imposing the maximum inconvenience on the general public”.

People living in urban centres were experiencing little difficulty in getting medication, he said, but rural communities were being impacted by the actions taken by some pharmacists.

Labour health spokeswoman Jan O’Sullivan again called for Minister for Health Mary Harney to intervene in the dispute, but sources close to the Minister again ruled this out.

Discussions or mediation on price was “not an option” for the Minister under competition law, according to a spokesman for Ms Harney. The matter was before the courts since the IPU took legal proceedings last week and would be decided in the autumn.

“Pharmacists’ concerns will be tested in court and if they win the sums involved will be backdated,” he said.

Declan Purcell, director of advocacy at the Competition Authority, said the Government had acted correctly on the issue from a competition point of view. He claimed the fees and mark-ups enjoyed by pharmacists were fairly generous.