Is there a supply issue with prescription medication generally?

[user143677434]

Purely anecdotal, and based just on one pharmacy, but I was really surprised today.

I popped into Boots to pick up a prescription and there was a queue of about 20-25 people (usually 0-3).

Pretty much every person was in discussion with the pharmacy assistant when they got to the front of the queue.

As I got nearer, I could hear what the assistant was saying and for nearly every person they were saying there was something on their prescription they weren’t able to get.

One they couldn’t give the full amount prescribed and the person was to come back for more next week (patient protested that this already was them coming back).

For another one they could supply one of the items prescribed but not the others, and couldn’t then give the person the prescription back to fill elsewhere.

With more than one they were explaining they could order the item, but didn’t know how long it would take to come in, with the patients protesting that there had never been a problem before.

Is this a general problem, or is my local one just having strange issues? I felt very sorry for the poor harassed assistant and pharmacist, but more so for the people who couldn’t get their prescriptions, one of whom was in tears!

I always get two months' supply of my blood pressure tablets. Have done for years.

Two days ago I only got one month's supply but my husband collected it so didn't question it.

Had a phone appointment with my GP yesterday and mentioned this in passing. She told me that this was due to new guidelines... only one month can be prescribed at one time.

I checked this with my pharmacist as I'd got another prescription to collect and he said 'yes,' it was the case but it's open to interpretation.

So, if you're on a regular prescription and you usually get two months worth of meds, you'll only get one.
Therefore you'll pay twice as much.

But, like my pharmacist said, it's open to misinterpretation.

Sounds like shitey bollox to me.

My mum is struggling to get hers in the UK. I live in Spain. No shortages here (we also have tomatoes) only one assumption I can possibly make

I have noticed this too. I don’t know the answer but placemarking. Any pharmacists on Mumsnet care to comment?

I have read about a lot of US shortages as well.

Yes. It’s well known for hundreds of medications due to Brexit. We stockpiled for after the transition period, and that has run out, so for the past six months of so massive chronic shortages well beyond what anyone else is experiencing.

I am struggling to get azithromycin and oxcarbazepine for my little one, it is bloody scary.

Except most people with one item per month will have a pre payment certificate because it's cheaper. So it won't matter if they get one per month or two every other month. Because the PPC charge is the same. The national policy is that people on regular medication are subsidised by single item users ie. Those who pay per use.

@EnglishRain ... I paid £9.35 every two months.
That's £93 a year.
Now it's £9.35 a month.
That's now double...overnight.

I expect a lot of people don't realise this and may not be able to afford a yearly subscription.

Oh dear, I thought that Brexit might be the problem.

I get two a month. I didn’t even know about another way of paying?!

I take topiramate daily for migraine prevention and it’s been incredibly difficult to get for several months, with very long waits. My usual dosage isn’t available either so I’ve had to accept the wrong tablets if become available, and fiddle around with the amount I take. This same medication is usually prescribed for epilepsy so it must be horrendous for people who need it for that.

I've had no issues with my thyroxine this week, also no problem getting two months' worth as normal 🤷

www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/help-nhs-prescription-costs/nhs-prescription-prepayment-certificate-ppc should save you a few quid

You can get a PPC here. It's around £100 per year. www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/help-nhs-prescription-costs/nhs-prescription-prepayment-certificate-ppc

Looking into it, several places explaining it’s a real thing, caused by a combination of issues including U.K. taxes on medicines and price agreements for NHS, shipping container shortages etc (and brexit), but complex.

pharmaceutical-journal.com/article/feature/fixing-the-uks-medicines-shortage-crisis

www.bmj.com/content/377/bmj.o1183

www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/02/why-is-world-experiencing-medicine-shortages-and-how-can-the-generics-industry-address-supply-challenges/

Seeking solutions to global drugs shortages www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(23)00437-3/fulltext

The thing is, when you read about it like that you assume it is still not too commonplace and that people maybe need to “shop around” and visit two or three pharmacies.

You don’t expect a shop full of people mostly turned away like I witnessed today!

I had to try three different pharmacies just to get insulin and needles!
There's always a queue and we never get the "come back in 20 minutes" that we always used to. Sometimes it takes several visits to get everything on the form.

Actually this maybe a bit of an easier to interpret article than the ones I posted before:
www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/why-europes-drug-shortages-may-get-worse-2023-02-08/

Agree it is becoming quite a visible problem and definitely not good.

I go to the pharmacy maybe two or three times a month to collect prescriptions. I only occasionally have problems with my own, but every single time there's at least one poor fucker being told their medication (still) isn't available. They're usually much more relaxed about it than I would be.

My DS's medication wasn't available over Christmas for a month and his paediatrician said it was definitely Brexit related!

I have had issues getting several medications for my family, one in particular ongoing. If it’s not in my usual pharmacy I have to phone around pharmacies to find stock and get them to pull the prescription from the spine for me. Annoying.

Yep, my son takes 2 medications for his ADHD and both of them have not been in stock in the correct dose more than once in the last 3 months. The pharmacy tell me that their supplier can never say when it will be back in stock. It’s a bit of a nightmare as one of them he has to take every day and we have been down to his last pill at least twice!

www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4750135-to-think-that-my-prescription-should-be-waiting-for-me-to-collect?reply=124235854

It's such a mess at the moment trying to fulfil prescriptions. Items come go in stock. Restrictions on how much can be ordered. Can't say if its directly just brexit or just supply and demand.

Dd has narcolepsy, her medication is becoming increasingly difficult to source. I have similar issues in a different part of the country trying to get my steroids.