“The Government and Health Insurance do not understand the economic difficulties of community pharmacies,” warned this Friday the second representative union of pharmacists, which calls for an “ambitious economic reform” and threatens to “mobilize”, possibly “even going on strike.” . .
Pharmacies are suffering: “social charges increase, results drop and 78% of pharmacies estimate that their cash flow has deteriorated since January 2023,” lamented the president of the USPO (Union of Community Pharmacists Unions) , Pierre-Olivier Variot.
“The shortage of medicines means 12 hours of work per week for the medicine search teams”, which represents a loss of “25,000 euros per year” per pharmacy. “The wholesalers, the banks, they are all telling us that things are getting difficult, overdraft requests are increasing terribly,” she lamented.
500 million euros of savings in medicines
The social security financing bill (PLFSS) “will further worsen the results” of pharmacies, considered Pierre-Olivier Variot. He mentioned the “500 million euros of savings expected for the drug”, including significant volume reductions, or “inadequate measures” in the face of shortages, such as individual dispensing of antibiotics.
Conventional negotiations with Health Insurance “are constantly postponed”, but “the more we postpone, the more money we will have to contribute, because the hole will get worse”, stressed Pierre-Olivier Variot, for whom pharmacists need an investment. “one billion euros to compensate for inflation.” “The risk” is that pharmacies will end up “laying off” or even “closing,” especially in rural areas, leading to a deterioration in access to care, he estimated. For this reason, the union asks Health Insurance for an “ambitious economic reform of the pharmacy.”
“Progressive” social movement
The board of directors opted for a “progressive” social movement, explained the general director of the USPO Bénédicte Bertholom. The professionals will start with an “exhibition” and in November they will be invited to “dress their pharmacies in black.” “If things do not evolve, there could be tougher movements, (…) even the guards’ strike and possibly even the closure and a complete strike of the community pharmacy,” she warned.
“Everything will depend on the calendar” set by public authorities, concluded Variot. The USPO intends to organize with the Federation of French Pharmaceutical Unions (FSPF, the main union of pharmacists), with a view to a “total pharmaceutical movement.”
Source: BFM TV
