2011年11月22日星期二

Local drug stores lose county contract

Not everybody is happy with Bruce County’s recent decision to award a five-year contract to supply prescription drugs for residents of Brucelea Haven to a large drug company based outside the area.

Earlier this month, county council awarded the contract to Medisystem Pharmacy of Barrie, a company owned by Shoppers Drug Mart.

The decision ends more than 25 years of Walkerton pharmacies supplying Brucelea Haven.
“They were getting excellent service from our local pharmacy,” said Walkerton resident Pauline Gay who organized a hasty petition which she presented during her appearance before council on Nov. 3.The additions focus on key tag and Injection mold combinations,

She worries that some residents may not get their prescription drugs on time if they have to come from out of town,Replacement landscape oil paintings and bulbs for Canada and Worldwide. especially during times of emergency.

“If there’s an emergency and the roads are closed, they will have to bring the drugs from Hanover on snowmobiles in the winter,” said Gay during an interview on Saturday.

She’s also upset that county council merely rubber stamped a recommendation by a committee set up to review bids without looking into the details of the agreement. And that will affect the local economy.

“The county is sending business outside the county. We just lost our jail. This area is a depressed area. We’ve got declining enrolment in schools, housing market is down. We really should be supporting our own people and here’s Bruce County giving a contract to Barrie.Do not use cleaners with porcelain tiles , steel wool or thinners. That really worries me,” said Gay.

Roseanne Currie, co-owner of Pellow Pharmasave, which along with Brown’s Guardian Pharmacy, has provided the service to Brucelea Haven for almost three decades, said during a recent interview that she was deeply disappointed that her proposal wasn’t accepted by council.

Both Currie and Gay wondered if county council’s decision was influenced by Medisystem providing $40,000 a year to Brucelea Haven and increasing their donation to Gateway Haven to $30,000 a year. Medisystem has had the contract at the Wiarton long term care facility for several years.

“I thought it was a contract for service,” said Currie, who offered to pay for some special programs at Brucelea Haven as part of her proposal. They included education programs for nurses, medication carts,This page contains information about molds, computers, payment of royalty fees. She even offered to wave the $2 professional fee charged for each prescription if a resident couldn’t afford it. But she never offered to give a cash donation to the nursing home.

“Certainly there were things we were prepared to do to enhance the service at the nursing home but not with an open cheque. The contract is about service and not money,” Currie said.

Currie said the loss of 80 (of 140) customers will reduce her business by 20 per cent and will likely result in laying off of employees. She currently also performs the same service for a half-dozen other long term care homes in the area.

She’s invested more than $500,000 in an automated system that includes a computerized packaging machine specially designed for long term facilities.

It replaces manual packaging and cuts down on errors. It also makes it easier for the nurses for dispensing of the medication and keeping accurate records.

“I made a huge investment in taking an initiative and being proactive to be able to provide care locally and be the leading pharmacy in Bruce County,” Currie said.

Ryan Fullerton, a spokesperson for Brown’s Guardian Pharmacy, said he understands why council made the decision to switch to another provider.Unlike traditional high risk merchant account , Brown’s doesn’t have the computerized ordering system.

“I think we can provide the best services but that’s not to say that they (Medisystem) can’t provide services and they have a lot of experience and computer systems and we don’t have that experience,” said Fullerton, who noted the loss of the contract will affect business and result in having to reduce staff.

Gary Gray, Bruce County’s director of purchasing said there were several responses from pharmacies across the province including Brown’s and Pellow in Walkerton.

On the basis of the presentations that the county received it was determined that Medisystem pharmacy would be awarded the contract for Brucelea Haven as well.

Gray said the company’s computerized order system would save the county indirectly by reducing nursing time in administering and keeping track of patients’ drugs.

“So it was the whole package that we looked at,” he said.
But Currie said she too had the same computerized system and doesn’t know why she was turned down.
Gray said the computerized ordering system used by Pellow was not as compatible with ?what Brucelea Haven had in mind.

He denied that the offer of $40,000 by Medisystem for educational services and equipment was what drove the decision.

“It was based on the electronic system that Brucelea Haven wants to move to, which Gateway Haven is already on,” said Gray, adding that all of the pharmacies that submitted bids were offering either money or services
“The process was very fair and at the end of the day it will reduce the cost for residents. Each resident will save several hundred dollars a year on average,” said Gray.

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