Drug supply ‘nightmare’
"We and the GPs have to go to a lot of trouble because you have to try and source something different that's available."
Mr Andrews said swapping HRT patients to a different medication could be difficult because these products are 'relatively unique' and small differences can have a big effect.
But he said his pharmacy is trying to give out a month's worth of the medication people need ‘to keep patients ticking over’.
He also said the Government had issued serious shortage protocols (SSPs), allowing pharmacies to give out lower quantities of HRT than the prescription states.
On April 29 the Department of Health and Social Care said SSPs were issued to limit dispensing to three months’ supply of Oestrogel, Ovestin cream and Premique Low Dose tablets to make sure women can access HRT products more reliably.
Pharmacists have also been given temporary power to make swaps to HRT prescriptions if they need to.
Pharmacist Richard Hopkins, owner of Hopkins Pharmacy in Burgess Hill, said shortages are a normal issue, but that sourcing HRT medication had been a specific problem recently.
"The demand for HRT has gone up," he said, adding that it has become difficult to get Oestrogel and patches.
Mr Hopkins said he is now rationing HRT medication and encouraged people to phone their regular pharmacy to see what is available.
He said medication shortages normally happen because medicines are manufactured all over the world.
"All it takes is a factory to lose its licence, or move, or have a problem with the raw materials and then you get a shortage in the market," he said.
Raj Patel, pharmacist at The Orchards Pharmacy (Alphega) in Haywards Heath, said this pharmacy's supply of medications had been normal but said getting HRT products had been an issue.
He said: "It's mainly the patches we've been having a hard time getting, and the gel as well."
He said that if a customer comes in with a prescription for a brand they do not have, they can ask their surgery to redo it. He recommended people call the pharmacy to check what they have before getting a prescription.