The incoming President of the Irish Pharmaceutical Union (IPU) has given a guarded welcome to the Government's draft Pharmacy Bill.
Speaking on his election as President of the IPU, Michael Guckian - a practising pharmacist in Sligo, said that the Government's proposals appeared have some positive elements but that their major shortcoming was the refusal to recognise the danger of combining the commercial interests of pharmacists and doctors.
"The separation of the commercial interests should be a cornerstone of our medicines policy and would ensure that the pharmacists could challenge the advice of the doctor - if necessary," Mr Guckian said.
"The development of business relationships between GPs and pharmacists has the potential to put patient safety at risk and undermine patient choice. The Tanaiste seems to agree but wants to wait for a "second" bill to address the issue," he added.
Mr Guckian drew attention to the Sixth Shipman Report (report into the murders by Dr Shipman in England) which stated :"It is now generally accepted that the involvement of a pharmacist in the process of providing medication to a patient acts as a safety check against error.
The Pharmacy Review Group recommended that there should be no business relationship between doctors and pharmacists, and that the traditional divide between dispensing and prescribing be maintained in the interests of patients and Government.
Mr Guckian said that the IPU welcomed proposals to introduce a fitness to practise regime for pharmacists to ensure that high ethical and professional standards in pharmacy are maintained.
Mr Guckian said that he hoped that the provision in the Bill would ensure that the owners of pharmacies, who are not pharmacists, will also be held accountable for how their pharmacies were operated; "the Union looks forward to working with the Tánaiste and her officials in ensuring that patient interests are fully protected in the proposed legislation."
The new President said that he was happy that the proposed new bill would deal with the removal of the EU derogation which prevents pharmacists trained abroad from acting as supervising pharmacists in pharmacies less than three years old. Mr Guckian said however that before ending the derogation, the Government ensure that pharmacists coming from other jurisdictions are properly qualified and that Irish pharmacists are afforded the same "rights of establishment" as pharmacists from other jurisdictions.
Mr Guckian said: "A pharmacist from any other EU jurisdiction can establish a pharmacy here in Ireland, but my Irish qualified colleagues cannot open a pharmacy in Belfast, Berlin, Paris or in any other EU country because of regulations in these countries. This is inequitable and unfair to Irish pharmacists and the Government must address this issue."