Pharmacists begin challenge to HSE scheme

A test challenge by more than 20 pharmacies to “unilateral” decisions by the HSE to reduce the amounts paid to them for free provision of drugs and services under the General Medical Services scheme has opened before the Commercial Court.

The Hickey group of 24 pharmacies claims HSE decisions of September 2006 and September 2007 are in breach of the terms of their contracts under the Community Pharmacy Agreement and will lead to annual losses of more than €2 million annually.

The challenge aimed at overturning the new HSE payments scheme, which came into effect last March, opened today and is regarded as a test case for similar challenges by hundreds of other pharmacies. Attempts to resolve the dispute by mediation between the HSE and Irish Pharmaceutical Union (IPU) failed last month.

In an affidavit, community pharmacist David Hickey, Garville Avenue, Rathgar, Dublin said that if the HSE was permitted reduce the price payable to pharmacies, projected losses for the plaintiff pharmacies would be €2 million for the year ended

February 2008 and €2.36m for the year ended February 2009. He could not sustain that level of loss in the long term, Mr Hickey said.

Counsel for the Hickey group alleged breach of contract by the HSE over its unilateral decisions of September 2006 and September 2007 to reduce the amounts payable to pharmacists under the GMS.

The hearing before Ms Justice Mary Finlay Geoghegan in the Commercial Court, the commercial division of the High Court, is expected to run for six days.