HRT Supply issues

[HufflepuffRavenclaw]

I'm not sure how old most of you are who are active on this board but if you even hang out on the menopause board a common theme is HRT shortages. This does seem to be mainly down to increased demand/awareness and high profile people like Davina McCall and Kirsty Wark producing programmes on the issue. HRT is something more women are asking for, and manufacturers of the most commonly used patches and gels just cannot keep up with demand. Brexit is not really a factor according to manufacturers.

The government appointed a "HRT tsar" in April 2022 to try to resolve these issues, but in August 2022, despite there still being serious issues, she was sent back to dealing with Covid vaccines. www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-62721742. Those of us who depend on HRT are often still finding it very hard to get our patches or gel, phoning round several pharmacies to get it, or being asked to accept a substitution of one product for another when we know only one really works for us.

So two points.

Firstly, if this was a medication that hundreds of thousands of men were taking, you can guarantee that someone would be taking it seriously. So many people - including medics and politicians - are not taking HRT seriously. Middle aged women are being ignored and let down, again.

Also, and I am really unsure how significant this is as finding statistics is difficult, HRT is also part of the standard treatment for men who wish to transition and live as women. (Although I'd argue that's HT rather than HRT as they never had oestrogen to replace in the first place). This increased demand for HT/HRT from males is going to impact on supply too.

I'm in the position now that despite being in Scotland and getting free prescriptions, I've just paid £55 for 3 months' supply of my preferred brand of patches from an online pharmacy in England. Also investigating how to get a prescription filled in continental Europe when I'm there next month as they are behind the curve on HRT use compared with the UK.

It really shouldn't be this hard and it makes me both sad and angry that an issue which affects so many women is being ignored.

I have always had no problem as mine is a combined preparation (so not used for cross-sex hormone treatments). The last lot, though, was repackaged Greek meds, with a sticky cover with the days in the week in English. It is a bugger to get the pills through the two layers

@booface I have PM’d you

I understand why pharmacies are reluctant to take back unused drugs and give them to other people.

But similar to other posters, I have one pack of gel (unopened) and some 75 mcg Evorel patches which I won't be using either, all individually sealed. Gel a bit heavy to post but if anyone wants the Evorel patches drop me a wee PM.

I can assure you that there are no shortages in my country nor in my sister's country (France) (Spain ) I can only assume it's a brexit supply issue ?

I looked into this @maddy68 .I think Brexit is definitely a factor but not a major one, it's partly increased demand in the UK and a lot to do with attitudes in other countries.

If you look at this

ir.therapeuticsmd.com/static-files/f282a775-5f16-4eb9-94d7-0398e2987906

it shows that a much higher percentage of women in France and Spain have concerns that hormones are dangerous. France's HRT uptake rate is about the same as the UK but Spain is much lower. That page is quite old too - 2015 - and since then the numbers of women asking for HRT in the UK has shot up due to lots of public figures speaking out about their menopause.

It always surprises me that private online pharmacies have no issue with supplies. That’s where I get mine from -
despite paying for a prepayment cert from the NHS.