Pharmacists cutting hours and closing due to staff shortages 

Dermot Twomey, president of the Irish Pharmacy Union, said he knows of colleagues closing up shop, as they cannot staff the premises.  Picture: Eddie O'Hare

Pharmacies are cutting back their hours including shutting at weekends, with some facing closure due to staff shortages, a leading Cork pharmacist has warned.

The shortage is so acute that locum pharmacists offering cover for sick leave can charge up to €100 an hour, leaving small businesses deciding whether to pay or close up temporarily.

President of the Irish Pharmacy Union Dermot Twomey, who works in Cloyne Pharmacy, warned some pharmacists are already making these tough decisions.

“Some are closing on Saturdays, some who were doing late nights are cutting back,” he said.

Some are deciding they are not providing certain services like vaccination because they haven’t the manpower to do it.

He added: “ A smaller number have closed. One of my colleagues in Longford has closed the shop because he couldn’t staff it basically. Other colleagues have closed their shops for certain days because they couldn’t get cover.” 

Pressure on pharmacists

He said if the on-duty pharmacist has an emergency, it could mean small businesses cannot open on time.

“A pharmacy can’t open without a registered pharmacist on the premises. It’s a very pressurised environment,” he said.

He said filling the post of chief pharmacy officer at the Department of Health is one step to tackling problems. This has been vacant since 2014.

The public is also affected by this vacancy, he said, pointing to an anomaly whereby emergency contraceptive pills are available through pharmacies, but pharmacies were not included in new plans offering free contraception to young women.

“If there was a chief pharmacy officer for the internal departmental discussions, they would have been able to outline other options. It’s like as if pharmacies were not considered for this service at all,” he said.

Pharmacist Ruth Garahy at Gray’s Pharmacy in Castletroy struggled to arrange maternity cover last summer.

There was no-one available. Someone had to come out of retirement to cover for me.

Then this summer, she could not find a locum pharmacist to cover a one-day closure. "I was trying to get a locum for a day then, it was €100 an hour. It’s just not sustainable," she said. Instead she closed the pharmacy for two hours while she attended her own medical appointment, and then returned to work. 

Incentives needed

She is aware of pharmacies offering locums accommodation with their job to entice people in.

"It was shocking when people started seeing closures on days here and there, nobody wants to do that," she said. 

However long hours combined with not enough workers can put people off, going instead for high-paid jobs in pharmaceutical companies and hospitals, she said.

A further challenge is the low number of training places available, along with a complex registration system for non-EU staff.

We would love to have more pharmacists, I don’t know why they’re not expanding the training numbers.  

She echoed Mr Twomey’s comments about the contraceptive scheme, saying: “We’re very close to UL (University of Limerick), it would nice to be able to prescribe contraception. That is the work we want to do.” 

Pharmacists are also calling for changes to how they are paid for dispensing items on medical cards and other State schemes.

“The average fee per dispensed items in 2019 was €6. The average fee in 2022 per item is €4.74,” Mr Twomey said. 

“So at time where we have increasing costs, increasing inflation we are actually expected to do more for less. We are seeking a fee increase, to a fee of €6.50.”