Childbirth pain relief to insulin: shortage of drugs ‘putting patients at risk’

Pharmacists have warned that a shortage of some medicines is putting patients at risk.

A survey of 1,562 UK pharmacists for The Pharmaceutical Journal found that 54% believed patients had been put at risk in the past six months due to shortages.

One pharmacist working in a GP practice in England told the publication that they were “always firefighting”.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

“Presently, hardly a week goes by without at least one pharmacy asking us to give an alternative,” they said, adding that this can be “quite dangerous” and “creates a lot of stress to both patients and professionals alike”.

Sky News said that the government has issued a number of “medicine supply notifications”, highlighting shortages of certain drugs, including one used by prostate cancer patients, an antipsychotic drug used among bipolar disorder and schizophrenia patients, and a certain brand of insulin.

The NHS is also said to be facing a shortage of epidural kits, a key form of pain relief during childbirth, as well as Remifentanil, a painkiller that women are offered as an alternative.

Supplies of both are so low that some hospitals are no longer able to offer pregnant women the standard right to choose which one they want to reduce labour pains, said The Guardian.

Anaesthetists told the paper that this has led to “difficult discussions” with women who had been told they would be given a choice.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said it works “closely with industry, the NHS and others to prevent shortages and resolve any issues as soon as possible”.

There have also been shortages overseas. The European Medicines Agency has experienced low supplies of a drug that is used frequently in IVF procedures, said Endpoints News.

Meanwhile, Australia faces “dire” medicine shortages, with more than 300 drugs in short supply, said The Guardian.