The Irish Pharmacy Union (IPU) today again blasted the HSE's contingency plans for supplying drugs under state schemes, saying the "inadequate" measures "were continuing to unravel".

PHARMACISTS claim their dispute with the HSE is “snowballing out of control” after only half of the 80 people forced to queue for medicine at a HSE dispensary in Donegal went home with drugs.

Pharmacists today warned that the quality of service and care to patients around the country is continuing to deteriorate as a row continues between pharmacists and the HSE.