IPU cave in

[ballot stuffer]

So a private shop owner is not entitled to protest in any way because it inconveniences the public? Some how or other I doubt people will be applying the same logic if nurses, teachers or civil servants go out on strike.

Strike away I care not but I hope they do not expect to retain my custom.

[nonpartyboy]

Lets see how great a victory it is when people have to travel miles to the nearest Pharmacy. Here in rural Ireland people are muttering about ti already. Still though people are still seduced by people like Hobbs and the "consumer activists" who know the price of everything but the value of nothing.

I hope you're not saying everybody should pay hugely inflated prices for medicine so a few pharmacies in the middle of nowhere can be kept on life support....them days are gone.

[midlander12]

You wait a year or more for some good news item and then get two in 1 night. Next thing the consultants will agree to a 50% cut in pay - just joking!!

[red leveller]

Not surprised by the IPU climbdown. I don't see how a union of competing entities can work. Same goes for the taxi-drivers union.

I have a certain sympathy for the pharmacists. It's not that I am in favour of the present system - I am an advocate of a full national health service, including pharmacies - but it is difficult for me to exult at people having their incomes slashed so brutally by those who are directly responsible for the economic catastrophe which is come upon us.

The idea that Harney is taking on vested interests is absurd. All this shows is that Harney has a preference for large business rather than small. Why, for example, should the cuts in spending not be divided between the pharmacists and pharmaceutical companies? Big Pharma is coining it. Some pharmacists are going to suffer severely.

I think that is any situation in which one finds oneself, the key thing is to look at where you are, decide where you want to go, and then work out the way to get there.

For me, the outcome I would like is, as I have mentioned, publicly owned pharmacies which employ pharmacists on a decent wage. Not everyone's cup of tea, and I would be happy to hear any other views.

With that outcome in mind, I would think the way to go here would include:

- regulations requiring GPs, NCHDs, consultants to prescribe generically (not required in UK I think, but very common practice)
- a ban on pharmaceutical companies using anything other than clinical or research evidence to peddle their wares (i.e. no free meals, no free ophthalmoscopes, no free tendon hammers etc)
- classes on generic medicines to be included in medical continuing professional development (GPs in UK seem very well informed on this)
- requirement for pharmacists to dispense the cheapest form of the generically-prescribed drug, unless there is a specific clinical reason not to do so (again, as I understand very common in UK)
- decision not to renew any contracts with private pharmacists for state drug schemes - with decent notice
- opening of public pharmacies to deal with the state medical scheme prescriptions and also to offer non-scheme dispensing
- offer to buy out the private pharmacies, with the pharmacists being offered work therein
- employee pharmacists laid off from private pharmacies to be given first refusal on jobs in state pharmacies
- if a private pharmacist decides to compete with the state pharmacies, let them sink or swim

[powderfinger]

Not surprised by the IPU climbdown. I don't see how a union of competing entities can work. Same goes for the taxi-drivers union.

I have a certain sympathy for the pharmacists. It's not that I am in favour of the present system - I am an advocate of a full national health service, including pharmacies - but it is difficult for me to exult at people having their incomes slashed so brutally by those who are directly responsible for the economic catastrophe which is come upon us.

The idea that Harney is taking on vested interests is absurd. All this shows is that Harney has a preference for large business rather than small. Why, for example, should the cuts in spending not be divided between the pharmacists and pharmaceutical companies? Big Pharma is coining it. Some pharmacists are going to suffer severely.

I think that is any situation in which one finds oneself, the key thing is to look at where you are, decide where you want to go, and then work out the way to get there.

For me, the outcome I would like is, as I have mentioned, publicly owned pharmacies which employ pharmacists on a decent wage. Not everyone's cup of tea, and I would be happy to hear any other views.

With that outcome in mind, I would think the way to go here would include:

- regulations requiring GPs, NCHDs, consultants to prescribe generically (not required in UK I think, but very common practice)
- a ban on pharmaceutical companies using anything other than clinical or research evidence to peddle their wares (i.e. no free meals, no free ophthalmoscopes, no free tendon hammers etc)
- classes on generic medicines to be included in medical continuing professional development (GPs in UK seem very well informed on this)
- requirement for pharmacists to dispense the cheapest form of the generically-prescribed drug, unless there is a specific clinical reason not to do so (again, as I understand very common in UK)
- decision not to renew any contracts with private pharmacists for state drug schemes - with decent notice
- opening of public pharmacies to deal with the state medical scheme prescriptions and also to offer non-scheme dispensing
- offer to buy out the private pharmacies, with the pharmacists being offered work therein
- employee pharmacists laid off from private pharmacies to be given first refusal on jobs in state pharmacies
- if a private pharmacist decides to compete with the state pharmacies, let them sink or swim

Are you proposing a Bailout for Chemist's,Red Leveller?

[powderfinger]

Precisely. She picked a fight with the weakest link. Why doesn't she fight with Big Pharma? We all know why.

Why Clanrickard?

[red leveller]

Are you proposing a Bailout for Chemist's,Red Leveller?

Ha ha

No - a fair price. Not a speculative long-term price

[MuchToDo]

The people who annoy me more than some of the pharmacists, or Harney, are the smug American-style nutters who just because they are in an urban area that will always have pharmacies (and have their own transport), think that this was just a childish stunt by the pharmacists or entirely self-interest. The comment about the estate boycotting their pharmacy defies logic. It's on the same level as those in the US protesting about the prospect of universal healthcare.

The only sense in which there is any freedom here, is the freedom for pharmacies in towns and villages around the country to shut up shop permanently - and they won't be replaced.

[nonpartyboy]

The people who annoy me more than some of the pharmacists, or Harney, are the smug American-style nutters who just because they are in an urban area that will always have pharmacies (and have their own transport), think that this was just a childish stunt by the pharmacists or entirely self-interest. The comment about the estate boycotting their pharmacy defies logic. It's on the same level as those in the US protesting about the prospect of universal healthcare.

The only sense in which there is any freedom here, is the freedom for pharmacies in towns and villages around the country to shut up shop permanently - and they won't be replaced.

I'm afraid this is just the start of it for rural ireland,rural ireland was being subsidised by money mainly generated in other aera's throughtout the boom thorough all sorts of schemes,partnerships ,projects,etc etc.how much did farmers cream off the NRA budget ?

The money simply isin't there anymore and i think McCarthy saw the writing on the wall, so he tried to make it easier for the politicans to implement.I can see rural ireland feeling very hard done by in the next few years unfortunately.I'm sure they'll all still vote for their local friendly FF'er though.

[Oddjob111]

The people who annoy me more than some of the pharmacists, or Harney, are the smug American-style nutters who just because they are in an urban area that will always have pharmacies (and have their own transport), think that this was just a childish stunt by the pharmacists or entirely self-interest. The comment about the estate boycotting their pharmacy defies logic. It's on the same level as those in the US protesting about the prospect of universal healthcare.

The only sense in which there is any freedom here, is the freedom for pharmacies in towns and villages around the country to shut up shop permanently - and they won't be replaced.

If a pharmacy is viable, it'll stay open. Next thing is people will want their local Supermacs or Paddypowers to be subsidised.