One in three GPs say their patients have suffered as a result of shortages of common prescription drugs
Medicines currently subject to shortages include Naproxen for arthritis and Tamoxifen for breast cancer
Patients are being harmed and put at risk because of national shortages of some prescription drugs, doctors have warned.
Medicines currently subject to shortages include Tamoxifen for breast cancer, Naproxen for arthritis and Amiloride, used to treat heart failure and high blood pressure.
A poll of GPs has revealed that more than nine in 10 family doctors have been forced to write prescriptions for “second choice” medicines because the drug they wished to provide was out of stock.
In recent years, scores of medicines, including those for breast cancer, arthritis and schizophrenia have run low because drugs intended for British use are being diverted abroad for profit, while others have been subject to production problems.
Medicines currently subject to shortages include Tamoxifen for breast cancer, Naproxen for arthritis and Amiloride, used to treat heart failure and high blood pressure.
A poll of GPs has revealed that more than nine in 10 family doctors have been forced to write prescriptions for “second choice” medicines because the drug they wished to provide was out of stock.
In recent years, scores of medicines, including those for breast cancer, arthritis and schizophrenia have run low because drugs intended for British use are being diverted abroad for profit, while others have been subject to production problems.
The survey of more than 600 family doctors by GP magazine found that one in three said their patients had suffered harm as a result, or faced a longer recovery. The magazine said family doctors responding to the poll reported problems with drugs for conditions ranging from conjunctivitis and acne to depression.
In many cases, they were forced to seek versions of drugs produced by other manufacturers, or to find an entirely different medicine, or leave patients to go without.
One medic said that they faced a daily struggle to find alternatives to common medicines.
One Scottish GP reported facing an "almost daily scramble around to find alternatives to common and heavily prescribed medications, and no real alternatives in some cases".
Another GP said: "For some drugs, there is just no equivalent available and patients' treatment is compromised."
Dr Andrew Green, chairman of the clinical and prescribing subcommittee of the British Medical Association's GPs Committee (GPC) and a GP in East Yorkshire said his practice had suffered “a recurring difficulty” with shortages of drugs.
He said the Government needed to do more to warn family doctors when drug stocks were running low: “We need action from government to ensure patients get the very basic medicines that they need.”
Because of the shortages, the Department of Health has introduced a system of rationing, which is supposed to mean the right number of drugs are held in stock. However, the system often means particular parts of the country run low on stocks, because they are not allowed to have more than their quota of medicines.
Alison Clough, executive director commercial UK at the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry said: “Over the last two years, branded manufacturers have put various measures in place to tackle the problem of medicines shortages, and the situation for branded medicines is much improved.
"However, we are not complacent, and we are very aware of the need for continued collaboration between stakeholders to ensure that we are ready to address issues, such as manufacturing problems and the sale of medicines by pharmacists and others in the supply chain, which are intended for UK patients. This has been the main source of issues in the past and the reason why quotas were introduced.”
She said the quotas could cause “frustration” to individual pharmacies, but were essential to ensure enough medicines were available for UK patients.
A Department of Health spokesman said: “We are actively involved in a number of pieces of work to tackle these problems both at a UK level and at a European and global level."
