The President of the Irish Pharmacy Union has said he is not confident the free hormone replacement therapy drugs scheme, due to begin on 1 June, will have enough of a sign-up among pharmacists for it to be delivered to all women who need it.
Speaking at the IPU conference in Kilkenny, Tom Murray said his door is always open for further negotiations with the Government and that two weeks "is a long time in politics".
He said he hopes there will be agreement between the union and the Government.
The Minister for Health and HSE have so far declined to say how many pharmacists have signed up to the scheme.
Speaking as she arrived at the conference at the Lyrath Estate in Kilkenny, Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill said there are pharmacies "signed up in every part of Ireland and nearly every county" including, she said, in her own constituency.
Refusing to be drawn on the actual figure of those pharmacies who have signed up, she said she was conscious and "respectful" of the members of the IPU who she wished to engage with at their conference.
"I am here today in a really open, collaborative way to answer the questions of pharmacists and to discuss that with them," she said.
The minister said she was keen to talk to pharmacists, to outline the budgetary and political constraints of her position.
The IPU have argued pharmacists are not being offered enough in terms of dispensing fees for HRT items on prescription at €5 per item.
It says its members require €6.50 per item prescribed in order for the scheme to be viable for them.
Mr Murray said that was the amount provided as part of the free contraceptive drug scheme, which was introduced in 2022.
"When the fee for contraception, which is a simpler therapeutic area, was set at €6.50 two years ago, why is a woman of childbearing age worth so much money and a woman of non-childbearing age, suffering through menopause, worth less money to the State," he asked.
The IPU President also said there are significant issues around the delivery of the scheme, including an IT system.
Minister O'Carroll MacNeill said she is "excited to get this HRT matter resolved" and that there is "so much else to do".
She said there is capacity to develop new revenue streams for pharmacies which she said will deliver a community pharmacy model for everyone.
Meanwhile, in a statement the HSE said it is "actively engaging with pharmacy stakeholders" on the free HRT drug issue and that it is developing a "pharmacy finder" on its website that will, it says, make it easy for women to find participating pharmacies near them.
Drug shortages increasing pressure on pharmacists - union
Meanwhile the IPU has also said pharmacists are spending more than six hours of their working week managing medicine shortages, which is putting them under increased pressure.
The union said the impact of shortages is complex, and has the potential to affect the care and well-being of patients.
Results of a survey of IPU members was launched at the annual conference.
The IPU said there are medicine shortages in key therapeutic areas such as HRT, weight loss management and in the treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
More than 300 community pharmacists responded to the survey which was conducted between March and April this year.
Results show more than half (57%) said there was a persistently high rate of medicine shortages, with forty or more cases of shortages experienced by them in the past four months, which is unchanged from 2024.
While 57% said shortages had "significantly increased" and more than three quarters of respondents said they expect the situation to worsen in the coming year.
Many pharmacists said their "labour-intensive efforts" to manage the shortages which includes sourcing other alternatives, contacting prescribers and borrowing stock from colleagues often goes "unrecognised and unremunerated".
The IPU has called for "immediate action" and for the Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2024 to be expediated.
It will, it says, allow for the Medicines Substitution Protocols (MSPs) which will give pharmacists the opportunity to substitute medicines in case of shortages.
