Pharmacists claim HSE list was just a smokescreen

PHARMACISTS have accused the Health Service Executive of throwing up a smokescreen over a looming crisis in the supply of medicines under the State’s community schemes.

The Irish Pharmacy Union said the list of more than 800 pharmacists that the HSE claimed would dispense drugs from Saturday was inaccurate.

The IPU said about 1,100 pharmacies are expected to withdraw cooperation with the schemes this weekend in a bitter row with the Government over plans to cut fees.

Members of the public contacted the Irish Examiner yesterday after their local pharmacy claimed it had been erroneously included on the HSE’s list.

IPU president, Liz Hoctor, said the published list was a smokescreen and confirmed their view that the health authority did not have a workable contingency plan.

“If the HSE cannot get a list of pharmacies right, how can they dispense medicines safely to people all over the country?”

Ms Hoctor said they had been contacted by pharmacists who insisted they should not be on the list.

According to the IPU, a pharmacy in Galway that closed three months ago should not be on the list. It also claims that 16 pharmacies in Dublin and the north-east and 11 in the south-east should have been excluded.

The body also claimed a pharmacy in the midlands on the list did not have a contract to dispense drugs under the schemes.

And, it said, there were dozens of other individual pharmacies that should not be on the list.

“This is a desperate attempt by a desperate organisation to hide the fact that they do not have a workable plan capable of meeting the needs of patients,” said Ms Hoctor.

The HSE said that, as of 5pm yesterday, 854 pharmacists had stated they would continue providing services under the schemes after August 1.

Over the last two days, 93 pharmacists told the authority they were withdrawing their termination notices and wished to continue dispensing medicines under the schemes.

“The list published today (Tues) is based on the information we had available to us. We can only act on valid information. We cannot act on intentions,” said Pat O’Dowd from the HSE’s contracts office.

Meanwhile, Brainwave, the Irish Epilepsy Association, said it was worried about how the row would affect people with difficult to control seizures who could not drive and those who lived in rural areas.

And yesterday Health Minister Mary Harney announced that the final sections of the Pharmacy Act dealing with complaints, inquiries and discipline would become operational on August.

The Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland welcomed the move to fully implement the act that provides for a non-pharmacist majority council and new registration systems.