CHAOS IN the Wexford pharmacy service is due to end today (Wednesday) as local chemists begin filling medical card prescriptions again in the interest of patient safety.

All pharmacies in Wexford town apart from Boots and Hassetts stopped co-operating with community drug schemes on August 1, in protest at cutbacks in payments by the Department of Health.

The action caused major inconvenience to patients who were forced to wait up to five days for medicines as the non-protesting pharmacies coped with an unprecedented increase in business.

Boots issued a statement revealing that they were filling more prescriptions in less than a day than they would normally deal with in a week. The Wexford branch was providing a same-day service for emergency prescriptions only. Other customers had to wait for at least a few days.

Customer demand at Boots, Hassetts and Kilmore Pharmacy, which also continued in the State scheme, increased dramatically as thousands of medical card patients from the Wexford area and New Ross flocked to their premises to obtain prescriptions.

The situation was becoming unsafe, according to one Wexford town pharmacist who decided to resume community drug scheme services today.

'People are waiting for far too long. The HSE's contingency plan is not adequate and we can't leave it any longer,' he said.

He cited the case of one elderly man who needed a vital presciption refill last Friday but was unable to get it. He spent the weekend without his medicine and eventually got the prescription filled on Monday.

'We have given blood pressure medication out for free to people who were unable to get it elsewhere,' said the chemist.

Diabetics, people with heart conditions and elderly patients were most at risk. A Wexford woman who had difficulty obtaining insulin for her diabetic son last week told The People that she eventually got the prescription after her own chemist made a telephone call to Hassett's.

'I don't know what I would have done otherwise because he can't do without it,' she said.

Chemist Padraig Murphy of Clonard Pharmacy said he felt compelled to return to normal service out of concern for the welfare of patients. He couldn't stand by while people were being left waiting up to a week to have prescriptions filled for vital medicines, including antibiotics, he said.

Mr. Murphy said he was aware of one man who was forced to wait from last Wednesday up to Tuesday of this week for psychiatric medication.

Describing the service put in place by the HSE as 'inadequate', he said he felt that the Minister for Health Mary Harney was letting people down.

'I spoke to the IPU and explained my position, that I would have to resume tomorrow,' he said. Mr. Murphy said he took the withdrawal action 'with great reluctance'.

'It was very unpleasant for pharmacists and patients. Iwould like to apologise to my patients for any undue stress or inconvenience caused by the action,' he added.

The decision byWexford pharmacists to resume medical card services followed a High Court action on Monday in which the Health Service executive extended an injunction to prevent 35 Dublin pharmacies from withdrawing services without the required 30 days notice.

The HSE also warned that other chemists, including Wexford outlets could be in breach of contracts and said failure to comply could result in further court action.

The managing director of Sam McCauley Chemists, Patrick McCormack said the company was pleased that full dispensing services were resuming.

'It is regrettable that such a confrontational approach by Minister Harney and the HSE instigated the withdrawal of contracts by so many pharmacists,' he said.

'What was more regrettable was the grave inconvenience to patients which soon became apparent as the HSE contingency plans proved to be virtually non-existent. That was clearly unacceptable,' said Mr. McCormack.

All chemists in Wexford town are resuming normal service today. They are also planning to re-apply for the HSE contracts which they terminated as part of a nationwide IPU (Irish Pharmacy Union) action.

In response to the news that Wexford chemists were ending their action, a HSE spokesman said yesterday that a facility was being put in place to enable pharmacists to immediately resume dispensing under State Drug Schemes.

- Maria PEPPER