TEMPORARY DISRUPTION to pharmacy services across the State will begin as early as tomorrow when a number of pharmacies are expected to close for several hours to allow pharmacists travel to a mass meeting in Dublin being convened over controversial Government plans to cut their fees.
The Irish Pharmacy Union (IPU) warned yesterday that some pharmacies may be closed tomorrow morning and early afternoon as a result of the meeting and advised people to visit their pharmacy before then if they wish to have a prescription filled.
More than 1,100 pharmacists, according to the IPU, have written to the Health Service Executive (HSE) indicating they will withdraw from dispensing medicines to medical card holders and those on other community drugs schemes from August 1st, over the decision to cut their fees.
The cuts, which aim to save €55 million this year and €133 million in a full year, are provided for under the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act 2009.
The IPU, in a statement, said the cuts being imposed on pharmacists are three-times higher than are being imposed on other health professionals. “Pharmacists say that this is totally disproportionate and have warned that the cuts are excessive and unsustainable and will undermine the service provided in pharmacies, lead to up to 5,000 job losses and the closure of many pharmacies,” it said.
“Pharmacists have made it clear that they are prepared to take a cut and have proposed a plan that will save €85 million on the community drugs schemes,” it added.
Meanwhile the HSE wrote to individual pharmacists yesterday asking them to reconsider their decision to terminate their contracts. It also sought to clarify from pharmacists if they were sure they wished to withdraw from their contracts, pointing out that if they did so the process of applying for a fresh contract again was not simple, it involves rigorous checks of equipment, textbooks and issues such as professional indemnity and could take at least three weeks, during which time they would be out of pocket.
Pharmacists were collectively paid €540 million last year to dispense drugs under community drugs schemes.
The letter to pharmacists also urged those withdrawing from their contracts to give patients back their repeat prescriptions and dispensing records.
The HSE has drawn up an initial list of alternative dispensaries which patients can attend and has also invited pharmacies in the North to consider taking up HSE contracts to dispense to patients along the Border.
The HSE’s chief pharmacist Kate Mulvenna said the HSE had been notified of tomorrow’s IPU meeting and had been told pharmacies may be open for a shorter period. But she said the HSE was concentrating on contingency arrangements that may be necessary after August 1st. “The HSE regrets the anxiety that this may induce for patients but we wish to reassure patients we are absolutely committed to ensuring they have access to their medicines,” she said.