Pharmacies dispute - No talks, no progress

Confusion is rife over who is participating in the community drugs scheme, with some pharmacies on the HSE list insisting they notified the Health Service Executive they would not be participating.

On the other hand, the HSE states that every pharmacy it has listed as cooperating has a contract to do so, and it is threatening to take legal action for breach of contract.

Although it admits that there have been changes to the list of participating pharmacies, it states that it has actually added 340 pharmacies to the list of those dispensing drugs under the scheme. Hence the HSE is satisfied that its contingency plan is working well.