Bernard Duggan, Chairman of the Employee Pharmacists' Committee of the Irish Pharmacy Union said that there was growing confusion over the HSE's contingency plans. Mr. Duggan pointed out three key weaknesses of the plans:

1. There is not enough detail being given by the HSE.  With only 4 days to go before pharmacists withdraw services, patients have still not been provided with concrete information on exactly where, when and from whom they can obtain their medication from the 1st of August.

2. Too much is being expected of those pharmacists who aren't withdrawing from the schemes....no account is being taken of the busy workload these pharmacists are already dealing with or if they have the capacity to deal with extra demand. 

3. There may be shortages of medicines in these pharmacies due to the unprecedented increase in demand. There are over 5500 different items which have been approved for supply to patients under the medical card and community drug schemes. It is impractical for each community pharmacy to stock all of these items. They, therefore, stock the range of medicines that meet the needs of their own patients. The HSE contingency plan does not account for the fact that it is impossible for any community pharmacy  to stock all the approved 5,500 prescription items; timely access to medicines by patients may therefore be disrupted.

"Employee Pharmacists call on the Minister to talk to their representative body, the Irish Pharmacy Union, to ensure that a medicines crisis is averted on the 1st August and that patients continue to receive the high quality community pharmacy service they deserve and expect" concluded Mr. Duggan.