To ask why there are medicine shortages?

[SinkGirl]

DT1 has chicken pox and some are infected. Saw GP who prescribed antibiotic cream.

Went to pharmacy to be told that they can’t get the 15g tube he was prescribed due to shortages so they had to send a request to the practice for a 30g tube. I called the practice and spoke to the pharmacist they have on site who deals with prescriptions - she said she could sort it out (still hasn’t been done though so we still have no cream).

Pharmacist said that they’re having this issue with lots of medications. I’ve seen it mentioned in Facebook groups and here with a wide range of medications being out of stock, supply issues etc. Brexit is being given as the reason but given it hasn’t happened yet, how is this already impacting things? And what sort of mess are we going to be in after Brexit?

Ive just ordered my epipens (first time I’ve had them in a long time) and I know there have been issues with these for a long time, not sure whether it will be an issue. My other son relies on several prescriptions to stay well, and I’m on a controlled drug that I can’t stockpile as the time limits are incredibly strict.

AIBU to be concerned?

www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/apr/09/brexit-medicine-shortages-pharmacies-england

I've had the same issue with antibiotic eye drops for my daughter and also powders for my husband who has massive problems with ibs. Our pharmacy says the same things that there is a supply issue. I'm really concerned

So far I haven't had an issue with my medication.

There is no evidence the small number of current supply issues we are managing are related to EU exit or increasing because of this

FFS.

Ds is 9 and on a lot of medications. We have had issues on and off with certain medications over that time. It’s nothing new

There have been occasional supply issues with my medications over the years, usually due to a manufacturing problem or similar, but this appears to be different

We have had issues with ds's reflux meds, dd1's epipens (although they have now started to have school epipens) and dd2's inhaler. I pity the staff in our pharmacy as there seems to always be a queue of angry people being told they can't get hold of meds. It's pretty worrying.

The dispensary staff at the GPS's said that there is a national medicine shortage, as opposed to ocassional supply issues (which we've also had in the past)

I asked my DP a while back as he’s in the Pharna industry and he said a lot of the problems are in the manufacturing of the medicine, not supply as in can’t get the medicine out. I know one large company had to shut everything down as they were breaching some health and safety conditions, other companies are purposely slowing down production to keep the price high.

Lots of issues with HRT at the moment too.

Medicines are produced and sold globally; ongoing procurement negotiations to reduce costs have led to many being produced in one or two locations only. We all use the same drugs globally so production issues can have a massive global impact. Stockpiling was recommended by many governments because of ongoing shortages from effectively poor global supply chain management (mostly from Asia / USA), but that worsens the issues as it can lead to more shortages as one country or particular pharmacy company gets more so other orders can't be fulfilled. There have been ongoing issues for years right across the EU, dating back prior to Brexit and prior to changes in the value of the pound.

Here are some global articles about why there are shortages, which might show a little more balance in the debate than the Guardian linking it to Brexit (their headline linked above is significantly less than truthful; if people don't understand the real causes then the real problems can't be solved).
France:
www.eurobsit.eu/article/medicine-shortages-in-france-are-we-heading-for-a-hike-in-online-counterfeit-purchases.
And Germany:
ihsmarkit.com/research-analysis/drug-supply-shortages-in-germany.html.
Even the USA:
theconversation.com/drug-shortages-pose-a-public-health-crisis-in-the-us-98295.

This is a global problem.

(Articles grabbed at random from Google by the way rather than me specifically knowing the publications; you can search the name of any country and "medicine shortages" to find more if those ones aren't helpful.)

Sometimes it is just down to where that pharmacy gets their stuff from. There have been times my local pharmacy has told me stuff is out of stock but, if I travel 3 miles down the road to the boots pharmacy, they either have the product in stock or can get it buy the end of the day.

Although HRT, Naproxen, epipens and lots of other meds are in short supply everywhere I believe.

I find it astonishing that life saving meds are in short supply. We have had problems with Epipens but also other auto injectors such as Jext and Emerade. Also, less urgently, moisturising creams (Diprobase).

However, what I found on the last occasion I had an Epipen prescription is that the first 3 chemists I tried said there was a supply issue and they had no idea when it would be resolved but the 4th chemist, on that same day, said that they could place an order and have it delivered within the week which they duly did! (We were traipsing round various chemists trying to find any that may have Epipens in their stock already.)

I totally do not understand their system.

Being a mum of kids with a continuous flow of prescription medicines can be a full time job just dealing with the prescriptions (this is said in a fairly light hearted manner).

We are short of lots of lots of stuff at the hospital I work. Various antibiotics, diamorphine......keep getting emails saying stock expected on x date and its always a few months away.

My mum and I are both on Naproxen, we haven't been given any for months. They told my mum that there was a shortage and gave her ibuprofen instead. They switched mine to that without even telling me.

Apparently the lack of Naproxen is a global problem, not due to Brexit, but who knows....

And personally a medication I'm supposed to take daily ive been having supply problems with it for two years. Only one company make it and they don't care that every pharmacy in the U.K. has sold out. I remember last year in Jan/Feb I couldn't get it and my pharamacy rang the manufacturer who said it wasn't on schedule for another batch of production until June/July and it ended up being August before I got some. I bought some on Facebook, and yes it's a prescription only medicine but if you know where to look you can often find stuff. But then I was a few months without it. It's out of stock again now nationally. I have about two weeks worth of meds left.....there's no alternative for it. I just have to go without and get poorly.

Have been having issues getting sulfasalazine, had to go to five different pharmacies. Can't get naproxen at all just now

I used to work in a pharmacy and it would happen quite often. Part of the issue is the way that the supply chain has been set up, have to order certain brands etc due to the contracts. Brexit may have an impact, but in pharmacy it happens.

Its very frustrating for us in pharmacies too. We sadly deal with the brunt of it with customers complaining at us if their drugs are not available.
I don't know how many hours we spend each week phoning around different pharmacies, manufacturers, trying sort out alternative scripts from doctors etc. Not something that the public will see happening...