WE’RE RUNNING OUT OF DRUGS FOR SICKEST PATIENTS
»Death toll rises by 917 »Lockdown ‘for months’
HOSPITALS are running out of three vital drugs which help coronavirus patients.
One consultant with five days’ supply of a key sedative said: “It’s extremely worrying.”
The UK death toll rose 917 to 9,875. One victim was aged 11.
used to treat the sickest coronavirus patients could run out, medics warned yesterday.
Three experts told the Sunday Mirror of supply issues with a sedative given to those on ventilation.
One consultant said his hospital had just five days’ worth of propofol.
He said alternatives were less efficient, so intensive care units would remain jammed – denying the next raft of patients lifesaving treatment.
Doctors said reserves of painkiller fentanyl and circulation-boosting drug noradrenaline – both key for patients on ventilators – are also drying up.
The experts spoke as the UK death toll rose 917 to 9,875. An 11-year-old was among the victims.
Consultant anaesthetist Anthony Beaumont, 62, who has come out of retirement to help, said:
“We’re running out of drugs. Nobody saw this pandemic coming and to expect the Health Service to be ready is unfair. The infrastructure is just not up to it.”
Another frantic doctor, who asked not to be named, said: “These drugs are being rationed by the Department of Health and Social Care.
“We’ve enough propofol for about five days. We will use older drugs like morphine and midazolam to sedate patients. The problem is they will take significantly longer to wake.
“The normal ICU stay with pneumonia caused by flu is five days, but we’re up to 15-20 days with Covid patients. This means another patient cannot be admitted for lifesaving treatment. It’s extremely worrying.”
RECOVER
Covid-19 patients on ventilators need to be kept asleep. Medics prefer propofol because it has few side effects and patients tend to recover quickly when it is withdrawn.
Anaesthetist Anthony, who has returned to work at the intensive care unit in Kent and Canterbury Hospital, explained: “Propofol is effective, quick and devoid of sideeffects. It sends you into a nice sleep and has a good safety margin.
“We give this drug continually via an infusion pump, usually in combination with an opiate like fentanyl.
“This keeps you out of pain and represses your respiratory drive. One of the positives is that the patient wakes up very quickly as soon as the propofol is turned off.
“There is a shortage. This could mean operating theatres will get first pick, leaving patients in intensive
care. If this happens, there are plans to use drugs like midazolam with morphine. But midazolam is not as good. It can take hours, sometimes days, for people to wake up.
“If it takes days, that means your occupancy will increase. There won’t be enough beds for other patients.”
Global supply chains of propofol have been hit hard while demand has rocketed. Just 100ml costs around £20 and although produced by British firm AstraZeneca, a large volume is from China, where lockdowns have restricted output.
Professor William Harrop-Griffiths, chairman of the clinical quality and research board for the Royal College of Anaesthetists, also warned of a shortage. He has issued guidance on maximising drug reserves.
The professor said: “We may find ourselves in a position where drug use will be limited. That means anaesthetists and the ICU doctors may not be using their drugs of first choice.”
Dr Rosena Allin-Khan, Shadow Minister for Mental Health, said of NHS shortages: “The mental health impact this is having should not be underestimated. We hear from Italy that huge numbers of nurses are attempting suicide – they feel they have been failing their patients.
“We have to enable everyone in the NHS to their jobs properly and safely. They deserve it.”
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: “We are doing everything to ensure patients access medicines they need.
“We are working with the pharmaceutical industry and NHS England to make supplies available. We have banned the parallel export of more than 100 medicines to keep supplies in the UK.”