HSE contingency plans ‘failing dismally’, say pharmacists

Widespread medicine shortages and delays are being forecast by the Irish Pharmacy Union (IPU) following the withdrawal of as many as 800 pharmacists from the Drug Payment schemes.

Speaking today, the President of the IPU, Liz Hoctor, said that the union understood that as many as 800 pharmacists had either closed altogether or were not dispensing under the state drugs schemes.

She said that the HSE contingency plans had failed dismally yesterday and widespread shortages and delays were experienced by patients using the special HSE dispensary services in Donegal, Kerry and Mayo.

She also claimed that there were no back up facilities operating in Waterford and Cavan despite the widespread closure of pharmacies in those areas.

Speaking on the situation in Donegal on Saturday, Gweedore pharmacist James Cassidy, said: "There is no semblance of a reliable service available to patients from the HSE.

"In Dungloe, we had several patients who went to the contingency site requesting medications only to be told the items were not in stock but to come back on Tuesday.

"This is highly dangerous. The contingency site have no patient records, no contact with patients and are trusting scripts to pass through several series of unqualified persons before being left for ad hoc collection by patients that night."

Ms Hoctor said that the situation in Donegal was repeated in many parts of the country.

“The HSE protested for weeks that it’s planned were sufficient,” she said. “They are not. And if they failed the test on a quiet bank holiday Saturday when prescription levels are always low, then we fear real disasters when demand picks up on Tuesday of this week.”