NHS medicines shortage putting lives at risk, pharmacists warn
An unprecedented medicines shortage in the NHS is endangering lives, pharmacists have said, as unpublished figures reveal that the number of products in short supply has doubled in two years.
A treatment for controlling epileptic seizures was the latest to be added on Wednesday to a UK drugs shortage list that includes treatments for conditions ranging from cancer to schizophrenia and type 2 diabetes.
Causes of the crisis are thought to include the plummeting purchasing value of the pound since the Brexit referendum, which reduces the NHS’s ability to source medicines abroad, and a government policy of taxing manufacturers.
According to Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) figures provided to the British Generic Manufacturers Association, there were 111 drugs on a shortages list on 30 October last year and 96 on 18 December, with supply notifications issued for a further 10 treatments to NHS providers in the UK since then.
It amounts to a 100% increase in shortages compared with January 2022, with pharmacists and health charities claiming the conditions of some patients were deteriorating as a result.
Delyth Morgan, the chief executive of Breast Cancer Now, said her organisation had been contacted over the past 12 months by several patients unable to source the medicines they needed to control the spread of their disease.
She said: “Last year many people shared with us, via Breast Cancer Now’s helpline, that they’d been facing difficulties accessing their hormone treatment including letrozole, anastrozole and tamoxifen, causing them huge worry and anxiety. Trying to track down a treatment by travelling to a number of different pharmacies is an added burden for patients at an already difficult time.
“It may also sometimes be that certain brands of drugs are out of stock and people may have to switch to another brand or different drug. In the worst case someone may have a period of time without the medication, a drug which could help reduce the risk of their breast cancer coming back or spreading.”
Source: The Guardian, 14 January 2024