Key Summary
- CPNI had earlier alerted the MLAs about shortages and potential rationing of some medicines in Northern Ireland.
- Chief executive Gerard Greene says medicine shortages are hitting harder in Northern Ireland due to deeper, systemic funding issues.
- Pharmacy contractors are using their own money to bridge a growing gap in funding.
Community Pharmacy Northern Ireland (CPNI) recently told the Assembly Health Committee that they cannot guarantee the security of medicine supply to patients unless some urgent steps are taken to stabilise community pharmacy funding.
During a recent meeting, they pointed out that almost 90 percent of pharmacies were unable to pay their wholesaler bill in January and called for a change in the funding model.
CPNI had earlier alerted the MLAs about shortages and potential rationing of some well-known painkillers and blood-thinning medicines in Northern Ireland.
The MLAs had, on February 26, invited community pharmacy representatives to provide an update on the situation.
CPNI chief executive Gerard Greene said, “Medicine supply difficulties are presenting disproportionate challenges for community pharmacies and patients in Northern Ireland, compared to other parts of the UK.
"We met with the Health Minister over a month ago to raise the alarm on this situation, and to date, the actions recommended by CPNI have not been accepted.”
He said the global medicine shortages are hitting harder in Northern Ireland due to deeper, systemic funding issues which are affecting pharmacies’ ability to pay wholesalers.
Pharmacy contractors are using their own money to bridge a growing gap in funding.
MLAs were informed that 367 of 414 pharmacies supplied by a major wholesaler were unable to pay their wholesaler bill in January, risking medicine supply to patients.
Greene said that for years they have pointing out that the Department’s baseline funding level for community pharmacy is wrong.
"The current medicine supply issue has now revealed further cracks in a dangerously fragile model. Significant disruption to the supply of medicines to patients in Northern Ireland is inevitable as a direct consequence of a failure by the Department to address this.
“The Department of Health has repeatedly pushed back on calls to review the funding model for Community Pharmacy, which it imposed over 15 years ago without negotiation then or since. And worryingly, the Department’s own calculations have been exposed as being incorrect several times over the past year.
“We are calling for negotiations on a new community pharmacy contract to begin as a matter of urgency.
"As a temporary – but immediate – solution to this, we are calling on the Minister to suspend the clawback that the Department deducts from our drug payments. We are not looking for more money; we’re asking for this funding to be left in the system so that we can pay our monthly medicine wholesaler bills.”
