EFFECTS OF DISPUTE AROUND THE COUNTRY:A NUMBER of pharmacies in Dublin city centre, including some involved in dispensing methadone to recovering heroin addicts, were closed yesterday with notices posted outside explaining closure was "due the pharmacists' dispute with the HSE/Minister Harney".
A HSE spokesman described the action of pharmacists who had closed their shops and who were contracted to dispense methadone as “a very unfortunate way to treat a vulnerable group”.
He said the methadone maintenance programme was a separate service to the State drugs scheme and the withdrawal of pharmacists from the programme was “entirely inappropriate”.
The shutters at Conefrey’s Pharmacy on Pearse Street were fully closed yesterday with a typed statement posted, reading: “Dear customer, due to the ongoing dispute with the HSE Conefrey’s pharmacy will be closed from Saturday August 1st until further notice. We are sorry for any inconvenience caused by this action.”
It went on to give an emergency number and said any prescriptions held on file could be delivered to people’s homes.
Tomás Conefrey, owner of the branch, agreed it was “rather drastic” to close the shop, but said it was a “step we have to take”.
“We can’t dispense medicines anyway as we no longer have a contract with the HSE. We have resigned from that. We could fill private prescriptions but we are an inner-city pharmacy and have very few private patients.”
His business was part of the methadone dispensing scheme and was no longer dispensing methadone either, he continued.
“I had been in contact with the community liaison pharmacist and only got guidance on what to do last Friday. So I was told to return all our methadone patients back to the HSE and I understand they are now going to the clinic in Dr Steevens’ Hospital,” he said.
Fiona O’Keefe, a recovering addict, was picking up her methadone from a Unicare branch in Stoneybatter yesterday and said she was “lucky” she was linked into that chemist as it was open.
“There’s chemists up the road are closed and people don’t know what to be doing. I was passing there and people are being sent to the City Clinic and it’s meant to be crazy up there today.
“It’s a disgrace. The State put us on this methadone and then they’re hitting the weakest like this, as usual.”
Another chemist involved in dispensing methadone, O’Reilly’s Pharmacist at Cornmarket in the south inner city, was unsure whether they would be able to stay open if the situation continued.
The pharmacist on duty yesterday, Cormac Loughnane, said he was providing services at the moment but said it was “difficult to say” whether services could be maintained. Staff may have to be placed on protective notice.
Bradley’s pharmacy in Ringsend was also closed yesterday, with a notice advising people who to contact in the case of emergency.
KERRY
The majority of the 59 Kerry pharmacies closed until lunchtime yesterday, in a region where one-third of the county’s pharmacies have withdrawn from the State drugs scheme.
All pharmacies in Listowel and Castleisland and most in Tralee have withdrawn from scheme. However, all 11 Killarney pharmacies who have not withdrawn from State drugs schemes also closed yesterday until 1 pm. They had closed “in support of our colleagues”, one pharmacist in Killarney said.
Pharmacists in Listowel, Tralee and Castleisland reported major delays in the filling of medical card clients’ prescriptions at HSE temporary dispensaries and in some cases lack of medicines.
However HSE South insisted the three HSE dispensaries in Kerry which have been set up in Listowel Community Hospital, in Caherciveen Community Hospital and at Denny Street, Tralee, to cope with the withdrawal of 19 of the county’s 59 pharmacies from the schemes had been operating well yesterday with delays of up to 45 minutes in Tralee and Listowel.
This was disputed by local pharmacists.
Michael Kennelly, pharmacist in Castleisland where all four chemists have withdrawn from the State scheme, said he had lodged a formal complaint with the pharmacy regulator after the HSE told him he could not act as a messenger on behalf of his clients.
“I rang the HSE about a patient I was concerned about and offered to drive to the temporary dispensary this morning to collect drugs for them and I was told I could not do so,” Mr Kennelly said.
– ANNE LUCEY
WATERFORD
A Boots pharmacy in Waterford city yesterday afternoon asked patients to return to the store today following an influx of new customers as a result of the dispute.
Customers at the Boots outlet in George’s Court were hoping to have their prescriptions filled, as provided for in a HSE contingency plan to deal with the withdrawal of hundreds of pharmacists from State schemes.
However, the company said yesterday that it would still be dealing with emergency situations.
Speaking on WLRfm news last evening, Rhys Iley, director of Boots in Ireland, said: “We’ve only got a very small pharmacy in there so when we saw the numbers coming through the door we recognised that we couldn’t continue to operate safely for our customers.
“The store remained open and clearly if there was a very urgent requirement, we could still meet them.” Mr Iley said that the company asked customers to “come back tomorrow or later in the week”. He asked that people, “please, if at all possible, wait until later in the week” as there could be a long delay.
Mr Iley said that the company could deal with a greater quantity of requests at another Boots pharmacy in Tramore because of its bigger dispensary.
– CIARÁN MURPHY
MAYO
Prescription holders had to queue for up to two hours on Saturday for medicines at a HSE-operated Community Pharmacy in Castlebar, Co Mayo, the town mayor, Cllr Michael Kilcoyne, has complained. He said a woman had to wait 90 minutes for seven tablets while another was informed there was no insulin available.
The community pharmacy in Castlebar operated out of St Mary’s Hospital on Saturday and there were long queues for service. Mr Kilcoyne said that at one stage there were up to 40 people queuing, half of them inside and half of them outside the temporary pharmacy.
– TOM SHIEL
