The Irish Pharmacy Union (IPU) has rejected an allegation by the Health Service Executive that some staff working at temporary dispensing sites over the weekend had been subjected to intimidation.
In a statement today, the IPU said it “would not condone any intimidation by its members but it has seen no evidence of any such intimidation”. It also said a letter of complaint from the HSE to the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI), regulator for the pharmacy profession, “contained no specific details whatsoever of any alleged incident involving purported bad behaviour by a pharmacist”.
The HSE has written to the PSI about what it maintained were “serious patient care and professional/ethical” issues that took place on Saturday, the first day of the current fees dispute by pharmacists.
The HSE maintained that, in some of the temporary dispensing sites that it had established around the country to provide services for patients, its staff had been subject to intimidation by community pharmacy contractors.
It also contended that a number of pharmacies that had not validly withdrawn their contracts for operating the State drugs schemes – such as the medical card and long-term illness schemes – had closed their doors for all or part of the day without prior notice.
It alleged that a number of pharmacists who had not terminated their contracts had refused to dispense drugs and medicines to patients whom they perceived as not being their own customers.
Today, the IPU alleged that the HSE was “seeking to intimidate pharmacists to remain with the discredited community drug schemes with threats of legal actions and delays in considering any application by pharmacists to reengage with the Drugs Schemes”.
It also claimed to have "seen evidence of clear mistakes and flaws" with the medicines dispensed to patients at some of the HSE's emergency dispensaries. It claimed "the likelihood of inexperienced and overworked staff in these dispensaries making such mistakes" will increase tomorrow as demand for prescriptions rises significantly after the bank holiday weekend.
The union said it would write a formal letter to Minister for Health Mary Harney expressing concern at the quality of the HSE’s contingency planning on Saturday.
“The HSE was clearly not prepared for the relatively light volume of patients they saw on Saturday,” IPU president Liz Hoctor. “I fear for what might happen when the normal post Bank Holiday surge occurs tomorrow.”
The HSE has insisted its contingency plan worked reasonably well.
Hundreds of pharmacies around the country have withdrawn from operating the State drugs schemes since Saturday, in protest at Government moves to reduce the levels of fees paid out by about €133 million over a full year.
There are conflicting figures as to the number of pharmacies actually taking part in the dispute.
Of the 1,600 pharmacies with contracts to operate the State schemes, the HSE said over 1,100 were continuing to provide services. However, the IPU said as many as 800 pharmacists had either closed altogether or were not dispensing under the State drug schemes.
Both sides in the dispute said that there were no attempts under way to put in place a mediator to try to negotiate a settlement.