The Administrative Court no. 1 of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria has sided with a pharmacist from Puerto de la Cruz and has deemed the existing on-call system null and void. It has determined that this practice is unlawful and goes against the principle of equal treatment among pharmacies offering these services.
This decision will lead to a review of the application of the regulation, resulting in the need to establish a new on-call system in Puerto de la Cruz, San Cristóbal de La Laguna, and Santa Cruz de Tenerife in compliance with current laws.
Specifically in the capital city, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, there will be a minimum of two pharmacies on call: one following a rotating schedule and another 24-hour pharmacy serving one of the neighbourhoods in the city.
Exemption for Certain Pharmacies
Moreover, pharmacies located within a one-kilometre radius of the 24-hour pharmacy may be exempt from the on-call duty since the service is already adequately provided, as stipulated by both the regulation and the court ruling.
Typically, the remaining pharmacies will need to participate in the rotating on-call system as required by the law.
Considering the vastness of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, this revised system is better tailored to the municipality’s needs and is in line with the legal obligations governing on-call schedules, which must now be implemented as mandated by the court ruling.
Furthermore, the applied on-call system in Puerto de la Cruz and San Cristóbal de la Laguna, where pharmacies with longer operating hours were obliged to take on more shifts at their own economic expense, has been declared null and void. This arrangement jeopardised the equality principle between pharmacies operating extended hours and those with minimum service hours, as stated in the court ruling.
