The UK’s National Health Service (NHS) is running short of dozens of lifesaving medicines including treatments for cancer, heart conditions and epilepsy, The Guardian reports. An internal 24-page document circulated to some doctors from the medicine supply team at the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), headed “commercial-sensitive”, listed many drugs currently hit by shortages at the NHS. The document warned: “This information is confidential to the NHS, please do not upload to websites in the public domain.”
The report says the document listed 17 new drug shortages identified last week including drugs for cancer, Parkinson’s, mental health problems and some eye conditions. It also identified ongoing issues with 69 different types and doses of medication including antibiotics for tuberculosis, diamorphine, various cancer drugs, heart condition drugs, Hepatitis vaccines and anti-epilepsy drugs. Eight drugs have been discontinued and supply issues with over 20 drugs, where there were previous shortages, have now been resolved.
The document said that because there are shortages of many licensed medicines, in some cases unlicensed versions may be imported although “lead times vary”. The report says while shortages of some drugs have been reported previously, doctors have said that the breadth of conditions identified in the list was “unprecedented”.
The document told doctors that some patients would have to be prioritised over others for some lifesaving drugs, a form of drug rationing. The report says in some cases the document recommended breaking tablets in half, in others finding a way to share dwindling supplies. While some drugs for which there are shortages have alternatives which could be prescribed, others did not. Switching patients from one drug to another is not always straightforward or safe. The document stated that in some cases switching drugs would require increased clinical supervision, something which adds to the workload of already hard-pressed doctors.
Rachel Cooper, the director of the health initiative at the anti-corruption network Transparency International, said in the report: “Shortages of medicines risk price distortion at the expense of health budgets, disrupt patient drug regimes and can undermine public health objectives. The public deserves full transparency of pricing structures and the reasons for and financial implications of drug shortages.”
A spokesperson at the Association for the British Pharmaceutical Industry said: “For new on-patent medicines there is an agreement between the government and pharmaceutical companies to cap NHS spending growth on branded medicines at 2%, with anything over this paid back to the government. Manufacturers know that any medicine shortage is extremely worrying for the people affected by it and they do everything they can to prevent medicine supply problems occurring and to resolve them quickly if they do happen.”
A spokesperson for the Royal Pharmaceutical Society said: “Medicine shortages are an increasing problem. A range of factors are responsible for shortages, such as manufacturing problems, global demand for medicines and fluctuations in the exchange rate. At the moment pharmacists are working incredibly hard to get the medicines patients need. Pharmacists spend hours tracking down stock and working together to help patients.”
The report says the DHSC has been approached for comment.
[link url="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/nov/18/revealed-nhs-running-short-of-dozens-of-lifesaving-medicines"]The Guardian report[/link]