Pharmacists warn of medicine shortages in NI

Pharmacists have warned there is a growing shortage of essential medicines, including prescription-strength co-codamol, in Northern Ireland.

Community Pharmacy NI (CPNI) said the shortage is likely to last for several months and has warned that pharmacies may be forced to ration supplies of medicines to ensure patients have some supply and do not run out.

In Northern Ireland, approximately 50,000 packs - about five million tablets - of co-codamol are dispensed each month to a population of fewer than two million people.

The Department of Health (DoH) said co-codamol has been "added to the list of medicines which cannot be hoarded or exported from the UK".

CPNI chief executive Gerard Greene said community pharmacies are "operating under sustained and increasing pressure".

"The gap between medicine costs and reimbursement is widening, and pharmacies here are also struggling to pay medicine wholesaler bills and receive sufficient supply of many common medicines to meet patient need," he added.

Dr Terry Maguire, who owns a number of pharmacies in Belfast, told BBC Radio Ulster's Talkback programme he had encountered shortages of a number of common medicines, including co-codamol.

He said: "We tried to order co-codamol on Friday - we were promised 50 packs and nothing arrived. We can't find any."

"These are basic drugs", he added. "It's a really unacceptable situation we find ourselves in."

CPNI said the situation would place additional workload on pharmacies and increase pressure on GP practices and out-of-hours services.

On Tuesday, representatives from CPNI told MLAs at Stormont that community pharmacies were typically trying to source stock for more than 100 common medicine lines that are in short supply.

They said as a result, patients may face delays, receive interim or reduced supplies, or be referred for alternative treatments.

Greene said the stability of the medicines supply chain was a UK-wide issue but it was of "particular concern to us locally because of Northern Ireland's small market and additional logistical costs compared to Great Britain".

He told BBC News NI that medicine shortages were an ongoing feature in Northern Ireland and the UK, but there had been a "sharp increase in number of medicines affected".

He explained that some of the medicines, including prescription co-codamol and low-dose aspirin, were very common and therefore many people would be affected.

Greene said CPNI was calling on the health minister and the executive to work with the UK government to strengthen medicine security and supply for Northern Ireland.

This includes ensuring that medicine stock is "appropriately ring-fenced", so patients continue to receive medicines they need.

"If this is not addressed, there is a real risk that Northern Ireland will become a lower-priority market for medicine wholesalers, with serious implications for patient safety, continuity of care and the resilience of the wider health system," Greene continued.

He said that if nothing is done, shortages will become a more frequent occurrence.

Greene appealed to the public to be patient with pharmacy teams who, he said, were "doing their best under what are very difficult circumstances".

He said pharmacies may need to ration medicines, for example if a person was prescribed four months of a medicine, this may need to be given to them one month at a time.

Or, he said, if the medicine was simply not available, they may have to be referred back to their GP for an alternative prescription.

Greene advised against patients self-selecting alternative medicines or altering doses without professional guidance.

Danny Donnelly MLA, the chair of the All-Party Group on Community Pharmacy, said the warning was "very concerning".

He called on the health minister to recognise "the severity of this issue" and work "with the local community pharmacy sector to reduce the impact and risks to patients".

In a statement, the DoH said it was "aware of a current supply issue for co-codamol 30/500mg tablets, which is affecting all parts of the United Kingdom", and recognises this is "concerning for patients and the healthcare professionals".

"The department is working closely with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the health service here to ensure that patients can continue to access appropriate treatments that meet their needs.

"It is important that people continue to order medicines in advance and in line with their GP practice policy and do not stockpile medicines, as this can put additional strain on the medicine supply chain," the statement said.