The supply chain for HRT is ‘broken’ and patients are being put at risk amid a shortage of common medicines, chemists warn

Patients are being put at risk amid a major shortage of common medicines, chemists have warned.

Industry leaders say they are regularly struggling to source hormone replacement therapies and drugs for ADHD, diabetes and epilepsy.

It is causing distress among those who are forced to ration their doses or go without – and exposing pharmacists to aggression and abuse, they add.

Dr Leyla Hannbeck, chief executive of the Association of Independent Multiple Pharmacies, said the situation is ‘the worst that we have ever seen’ and called on the government to recognise the seriousness of the issue.

She blamed a ‘broken’ supply chain, which is unable to cope when demand for a drug rises or when a factory experiences production issues. The shortages are forcing patients to traipse around 30 to 40 pharmacies trying to find one with stock or to return to their GP for an alternative prescription.

Meanwhile, chemists are having to spend hours on the phone to wholesalers each day tracking down supplies, taking them away from providing care.

Dr Hannbeck said: ‘Our supply system is consistently unable to cope as soon as the demand for a medicine goes up – for example, scabies medicines, ADHD medicines, diabetes medication and some cancer medicines, HRT medicines – the list continues.’

She added that frontline pharmacists ‘are regularly witnessing the stress that these shortages cause for patients, but they feel helpless’.

‘In addition, as pharmacists we are worried that some of these medicines’ shortages have an impact on patient safety because it affects their treatment, in some cases delays to their treatment, or, as some patients report, their symptoms return when they cannot get hold of their medicines.’

Speaking to the Commons health and social care committee yesterday, William Pett at patient watchdog Healthwatch England said some people with ADHD have had to ration medication and phone around multiple pharmacies or post messages on Facebook to get hold of drugs. 

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: ‘We have well-established processes to prevent, manage and mitigate medicine shortages quickly when they do arise and that includes working closely with industry, the NHS and others. When an issue does occur, it is commonly managed with minimal disruption to patients.’