Pharmacies reprieved
Thursday, 5 January 2012
A LOCAL pharmacist has welcomed a High Court decision to grant a judicial review of a decision to cut the community pharmacy budget by £38 million.
Many rural pharmacies were facing a bleak future since the cuts came into effect last April.
On Wednesday December 22 Mr Justice Treacy ruled that a proper consultation had not been carried out by health chiefs and that no sufficient regulatory impact assessment was conducted as part of the process for bringing in a new drug tariff.
Ballymoney Borough Councillors will have an opportunity to discuss the matter at a full council meeting this evening (Tuesday).
Mr Patrick Kennedy of Kennedy's Pharmacy in Rasharkin and Dunloy said: "I welcome the High Court decision; but it hasn't made any difference
just yet. There will be another full reading of the Judges ruling on January 9. The Judge with get together with the Department of Health
and Community Pharmacy NI to find out what steps, if any, have been taken to resolve the issue."
Since the cuts came last April Mr Kennedy says that one full time member of staff and two part time members of staff have left for various reasons and have not been replaced.
He said: "It has been financially extremely difficult for all pharmacies but especially for rural pharmacies since the cuts were implemented; we have lost about a third of our funding."
Pharmacies get paid for a variety of services they provide including dispensing prescriptions.
“In the long term it would be very difficult to maintain current levels of service and staff and many rural pharmacies could close. Rural pharmacies by their location have a smaller footfall. Many of our customers are very vulnerable; the vast majority are over 60 or under 16 and many for one reason or other find it very difficult to travel."
So what does Mr Kennedy hope is the outcome?
“I am hoping that we will get some of the money that has been cut paid back to us. But for the future I would like to see a properly funded pharmacy contract negotiated to help us continue to deliver an excellent service to the community. We could provide an increased number of services and this could help save money in the long term by helping to keep people out of hospital."
Subscribe to read full newspaper »
Send to a friend
Please complete the following form to inform a friend about this page.
