Threat to pull out of drug schemes 'still present'

PHARMACISTS HAVE warned that the community drug schemes could again be at risk if the Health Service Executive fails to deliver on commitments made at the end of April which averted a mass withdrawal by pharmacists.

Newly elected president of the Irish Pharmacy Union Liz Hoctor told the organisation's annual general meeting in Enfield, Co Meath, yesterday the HSE should not presume that the threat by pharmacists to withdraw from the scheme had disappeared.

She said pharmacy remained "in crisis", but that pharmacists had continued to dispense medicines under the community schemes for the time being.

The issue which led to the crisis - the unilateral HSE decision to reduce payments to pharmacists and to change other contractual terms - had not been resolved, she added. She called on the HSE to deliver by the end of May the commitments in the deal which averted the threatened withdrawal from the drug schemes.

"This should be a time for restoring trust, and there is a need to develop a good working relationship between the HSE and the union. If this does not happen, further conflict is inevitable," she said.

Hundreds of pharmacists last month went to the brink of pulling out of dispensing medicines for patients under the various community drug schemes in protest at the unilateral introduction of a controversial new pricing arrangement.

The HSE had sought to reduce margins paid to pharmaceutical wholesalers in a bid to save €100 million. However, as it has no direct relationship with the wholesalers, the HSE reduced the reimbursement price paid to pharmacists. It argued that the margins paid to wholesalers were shared with pharmacists.

Pharmacists withdrew their threat to withdraw after an independent body examining pharmacists' payments signalled that it could look at alternatives to the HSE reimbursement cuts.

As part of the deal, the HSE agreed to finalise long-standing issues affecting pharmacists, including methadone scheme operation and pay rises due under national pay agreements.

Ms Hoctor said that pharmacists were ready to reform the community drug schemes, not only to save money but also to improve them to better meet the needs of a growing and ageing population.

Meanwhile, the IPU conference was told that about 4,000 children in Ireland were accidentally poisoned each year, with prescription or over-the-counter medication often involved. The agm passed a motion calling on the HSE to roll out a collection scheme for unused drugs. It also heard that drugs worth millions of euro were being thrown away by patients who don't know how to take their medicines properly. It passed a motion calling on the HSE to support a medicines management system for patients.