North Yorkshire pharmacists 'concerned' over medicine shortage
Many patients are being put at risk according to the Pharmaceutical Journal
There are concerns over a shortage of some medicines in North Yorkshire.
The Pharmaceutical Journal has conducted a survey of 1,562 UK pharmacists and it showed more than half (54%) believed patients had been put at risk in the last six months due to shortages.
It says some patients have been facing difficulties accessing some medicines in recent months, sometimes having to go to multiple pharmacies to find their prescription or needing to go back to their GP to be prescribed an alternative drug.
The problem came to the fore when shortages of hormone replacement therapy drugs led to an outcry earlier this year.
Since June, the Government has issued a number of "medicine supply notifications", which highlight shortages.
Some of these include: pain relief drugs used in childbirth; mouth ulcer medication; migraine treatment; an antihistamine; a drug used among prostate cancer and endomitosis patients; an antipsychotic drug used among bipolar disorder and schizophrenia patients; a type of inhaler and a certain brand of insulin.
The Pharmaceutical Journal also reported that on August 3, ministers urged hospitals to "conserve stock" of an anticlotting drug used to treat strokes.
Some pharmacists have expressed concerns about switching patients on certain medication to alternatives.
Community pharmacists told the Pharmaceutical Journal in August that shortages of the osteoporosis medicine alendronic acid were contributing to medication errors when alternatives were prescribed.
The journal reported that talks have begun with pharmacy leaders and the Government about ways to ease the shortages.
A pharmacist at a children's hospital in England said that problems with variable supply of nutritional products was putting patients at risk.
"We had to ration it, and this has potentially put patients at risk of vitamin deficiencies," she said.
Another hospital pharmacist raised concerns about drugs being unavailable at the end of a patient's life.
They told the journal: "There was no alternative for one patient who had to deal with an additional symptom in his last days of life due to lack of available treatment."
Mike Dent, director of pharmacy funding at the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee, told the journal: "We are becoming increasingly concerned about medicine supply issues and the very serious impact this is having on both community pharmacy teams and their patients."
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: "We take patient safety extremely seriously and we routinely share information about medicine supply issues directly with the NHS so they can put plans in place to reduce the risk of any shortage impacting patients, including offering alternative medication.
"We have well-established procedures to deal with medicine shortages and work closely with industry, the NHS and others to prevent shortages and resolve any issues as soon as possible."
Ian Dean, Chief Executive of Community Pharmacy North Yorkshire, said: "It's something that's been going on for a long time. It makes a lot of work for pharmacies to sort out because if they haven't got it and a pharmacy nearby also hasn't got it, because it's a wholesale supply chain issue, not the fact pharmacies haven't ordered it, it makes work for them and it makes work for GPs issuing new prescriptions.
"The community pharmacies get very savvy at trying to find out there's generally more than one route to obtain it. Most community pharmacies will have one main primary wholesaler but they'll have others, so if it's just a shortage from their main wholesaler then they may be able to obtain it from other places.
"The pharmacies are going to great lengths to try and get the medicines. If they genuinely tell you that they've tried everything and can't get it, they aren't telling lies, they're genuinely telling you there is a problem. You may need an alternative from the doctor and the beauty of the drugs market is that there are geneuinly more than one drug that can treat your condition.
"People need to be nice. The pharmacies aren't trying to go out of their way to be awkward saying 'oh i can't get this for you', it's genuinely because they've had a problem getting it so just be nice. It's not good to be badly behaved towards them just because they can't get your stuff."