Here is a post from reverand, a forum member, copied from general pharmacy topics. Its content is extremely important with regard to the current situation within pharmacy in the Irish Republic....
hi there, i was just wondering if there was much, if any awareness of the situation developing in ireland. from august the 1st 75% of irish contractors have told our health authority the HSE, that we will no longer provide services for them. This has arisen due to an on average 35% cut in pharmacy remuneration. The dire situation our economy faces is the pretext, but the disproportionate cut to pharmacy is the reason for the pull-out. doctors, dentists etc had their pay reduced by 8% across the board. our health authortity is now scrambling to put together a contingency plan(as they are legally obliged to do) before the 1st of august. i believe some of our colleagues in northern ireland may be able to help most as i believe the HSE is looking for help from northern pharmacists especially in border counties. i appreciate this is not your battle, but information is what we need especially in relation to the contingency plan (if any). kind regards, reverand
May I ask any or all pharmacy forum members currently practising in Northern Ireland to let either myself or reverand know either on the open forum or by means of PM (personal message) whether you have been approached by the Health Service Executive of Ireland, or any other body with a view to providing 'emergency services' of supply of prescription medicines to patients resident within the Irish Republic, commencing August 1st 2009.
Please understand this is extremely important, and may have serious implications on the survival of independently owned pharmacies within Ireland.
Thankyou for your time,
Fleegle. (Moderator, Pharmacy Forum UK)
Last edited by Fleegle; 19th, July 2009 at 12:05 AM.
As you know, I work as a locum on both sides of the border, although so far not for anyone just on the northern edge of it.
My guess is that northerners won't do the GMS stuff, since they would have no copy of MIMS ireland, no southern computer and no comprehension of southern brand names. Unless they have worked in the south themselves they will never have heard of anxicalm, lexapro, clonamox, pinaclav, germentin, omnexel, microlite, etc and wouldn't have a clue as to what drugs have a GMS code or not. Also, how could they claim? No e-claims in NI, and where would they get the manual codes from, and the concept of changing a quantity of 28 to 30 or 31 is something alien to northerners.
I'm guessing that a bit of private cross border dispensing goes on anyway, but I can't see GMS taking off at all.
Here's the answer from the PCC in Northern Ireland..Thankyou Terry Hannawin. Your statement finally shows Harney and the HSE to be the incompetent fools that they are from an International perspective....
The IPU's counterpart organisation in the North, however, refused to back the HSE's request.
Chief executive of the Pharmaceutical Contractors Committee, Terry Hannawin, said: "This attempt to cobble together an arrangement involving pharmacies in the North raises all sorts of practical and technical problems, safety issues and possible legal barriers. But even if they could be overcome, this is frankly no solution.
"The right and proper solution is to get back to the negotiating table with representatives of community pharmacists in the Republic, find a fair way forward and resolve the dispute as quickly as possible. We urge the HSE to do that in the best interests of patients and the public.
"We cannot recommend that pharmacy contractors in Northern Ireland participate in the scheme proposed in these newspaper advertisements.”
The IPU said about 1,200 pharmacists from throughout the country were in attendance at the meeting in Ballsbridge, Dublin, and that many pharmacies would be closed today due to the meeting.
Further information on the HSE-operated pharmacies is available on the organisation's website.
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