Radia on boards.ie:
The pharmacists aren't striking. They were given only two choices by the HSE - keep your contract, with a reduced payment (typically 34% reduction) or give 30 days notice to end your contract.
Depending on the mix of business and the ability to take the hit, some pharmacists stayed in (Boots being an example; I presume they have huge bulk buying power for things like hair colours etc which is the bulk of their business and can afford to take a hit on prescriptions). Others (especially small rural pharmacies who rely on prescriptions for the majority of their business and don't have enough cosmetics etc to cross-subsidise it) rejected the contract. They simply wouldn't receive enough money from the schemes to pay their rent, staff wages, electricity bills etc. Continuing to trade, knowing you are doing so at a loss, is called reckless trading and is illegal.
They gave their 30 days notice. The HSE knew they would no longer be in the schemes. They had a month (more than a month when you consider any sensible manager would anticipate not everyone would accept the new terms) to put contingency arrangements in place. It is the HSE's responsibility to have health services in place. So they said they would prepare a contingency plan and all would be well.
And the HSE said - and continue to claim - that their contingency arrangements are working very well. According to them, everyone is getting their medicines, there are no unnecessary delays, everything is fine. According to the HSE we don't need any of those pharmacies who have withdrawn, look around, see all the pharmacies that are open and happily dispensing away. In fact, according to the HSE it would be far better if we stuck to the lower number of pharmacies we have now - there were far too many before. It doesn't seem to matter to them that this would represent about 5000 extra people on the dole queues - not just those 'greedy' pharmacists but their staff. It doesn't seem to matter to them that people are queueing down the street at the pharmacies that still have contracts. It doesn't seem to matter to them that people now have a 2-3 day wait in many cases for simple, common and essential items.
Pharmacists gave notice they were pulling out. They warned the HSE that they didn't think their contingency plans would be sufficient. They have fully co-operated with the HSE's contingency plans, referring their patients to the contingency dispensaries, and in some cases even arranging transport to them. Many are still continuing to provide advice to patients who have obtained their medicines elsewhere, and to check them for safety - without any recompense at all. What else can they do?
The HSE continues to insist they are on top of the situation and everything is fine. Clearly this is rubbish. They claim that 75% of pharmacies are still open and dispensing normally. Clearly this is rubbish too. So if they are so blatantly telling lies about this, do you not think it's time to question some of the other statements they are making? We know their record of patient care in the hospitals, and the lies and spin they have come out with in relation to numbers on trolleys. This is no different.
I don't know what work you do, but imagine for a moment that you are a pharmacist. You receive enough money to cover your business expenses, pay your staff, take home a salary to pay your mortgage. Then one day you hear - by a press release, not even a letter to you - that the payments made to you will be cut by 34%. This is not enough to cover all your outgoings. Are you seriously saying that you would accept these new terms and just keep going until you were bankrupt and prosecuted for reckless trading?