The Department of Health has issued the following response to a statement by Community Pharmacy NI (CPNI) on medicine supplies and funding for the sector.
The Health Minister and Department would like to reassure the public that there are national and locally tried and trusted mitigation arrangements in place for dealing with any supply distributions to ensure that patients continue to get the medicines they need.
The Minister and Department are very aware of the pressures facing community pharmacies.
The Minister and officials discussed the situation with Community Pharmacy NI (CPNI) representatives at a meeting last week.
The scale of the unprecedented budgetary pressures and uncertainty currently facing the Department were spelt out.
Notwithstanding these pressures, Community Pharmacy NI were informed that a support package for their sector was being finalised. This package includes immediate interventions worth over £5.3m in value, plus a commitment to progress wider reform arrangements in collaboration with CPNI.
It is therefore somewhat surprising to see CPNI publicly demanding a package which it already knows is on the way.
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