Chemist boycott risk fades

THE THREAT of widespread disruption to community pharmacy services has receded, with only two pharmacies to date indicating that they will boycott new price arrangements which come into place on Saturday.

The Health Service Executive (HSE), which intends to cut dramatically the wholesale price of drugs paid to pharmacies, has put in place contingencies to deal with any pharmacies boycotting the new price structure.

The HSE has also taken out advertisements in the media explaining its position and what steps patients should take if pharmacies refuse to dispense their medicines when the new arrangements come into effect.

Age Action said yesterday many elderly people, especially in rural areas, are worried they will not get their medications.

The HSE wrote to all 1,600 community pharmacies last week asking them to indicate if they intended to withdraw from the community drugs scheme.

To date only two out of 80, who have replied, say that they will withdraw, suggesting that no more than 40 pharmacies across the Republic will boycott the new scheme.

In addition, the HSE was told by the two biggest pharmaceutical chains in the State, Unicare, which has 61 outlets, and Boots, which has 42, that they will continue to take part in the scheme.

Pharmacists claim the HSE's decision to cut the wholesale price of drugs from 18 per cent to 7 per cent will lead to 300 of them going out of business, especially in rural and disadvantaged areas.

The Irish Pharmaceutical Union (IPU) said its members never intended to boycott the new arrangements, however strongly they felt about it.

The IPU is taking the HSE to the High Court alleging that its proposals to reduce payments to pharmacists are in breach of individual pharmacist's contracts which provide for the current levels of payment.

That case is due before the court next Monday.

An IPU spokeswoman said: "Pharmacists will always put patients first, but the HSE, by implementing these cuts, is undermining pharmacists' ability to provide services for patients."

Pat O'Dowd, assistant national director of the HSE, said: "Pharmacies are very important professions in the community. To that extent, pharmacies are going to be very reluctant to discommode or inconvenience their own patients.

"Patients have a choice of provider and that's clearly a factor, but I also wouldn't underplay the professional obligations that pharmacists feel they owe to their public and their patients and to the community."

In a statement issued last night, the IPU called on the HSE to stop the implementation of the new payment scheme to allow the independent review of pricing which the Government has ordered to take place.

The IPU said it had proposed savings through the use of more generic medicines while also eliminating waste, but the HSE had rejected their proposals.

However, Ross Hattaway, the HSE's manager of its corporate pharmaceutical unit, said the executive had already postponed the changes from December 2007 and was not prepared to do so again.

He said that the estimated saving of €100 million was already factored into the HSE's budget for this year and the organisation would have to make cuts elsewhere if it postponed the changes.

The HSE maintains that reducing the payments brings them into line with European norms and it will lead to an 8 per cent reduction in prices at the pharmacy for patients.