Patients already hit by shortages
PATIENTS are already experiencing serious levels of harm because of medicine shortages and delays believed to have been caused in part by Brexit uncertainty, a medical union has said.
Some pharmacists are being shouted at daily and a fifth are spending at least two hours a day dealing with a lack of key medicines, a survey for the Pharmacists’ Defence Association (PDA) found.
They believe uncertainty around the shifting Brexit timetable has worsened underlying supply chain problems, with 90% of the pharmacists believing the problem has deteriorated over the past year.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said there is no evidence that any shortages are linked to Brexit.
Shortages have affected more than a fifth (21%) of prescription medicines dispensed in the past three months, the union reported. And a quarter of the 1,019 who responded said they were already aware of harm experienced by patients.
They said patients are suffering seizures, loss of blood pressure control and “severe distress and discomfort” as a result of shortages and delays of blood pressure medicine, HRT, anticoagulants to prevent strokes and anti-epileptic drugs.
When asked about the effect of a no-deal Brexit, over 81% of respondents felt that medicines shortages would get worse, with 55% believing they would get “much worse”.
Alima Batchelor, head of policy at the PDA, said: “There are many reasons for the current widespread shortages of medicines, but it is likely that the uncertainty around Brexit has played some part.
“Our survey of over 1,000 front line pharmacists has found that there are significant concerns that a no-deal Brexit could make medicine shortages much worse, placing patients at the real risk of harm.”
Currently, some patients taken to hospital for anaphylactic shock are being sent home without adrenaline auto-injectors, while others have expired devices or only one. They are advised to always carry two.
One patient broke several bones after falling when their blood pressure was lowered too far after being switched onto a different formulation of the same drug.
And a pregnant woman who did not get another blood pressure drug, labetalol, ended up in hospital with hypertension.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Boris Johnson heads for a crunch summit of EU leaders in Brussels today.
Mr Johnson needs to get a deal approved by the EU at the gathering to avert a major political row over asking Brussels to delay Brexit beyond the scheduled October 31 deadline.
Before the chances of an agreement being secured yesterday faded, French President Emmanuel Macron said he wants “to believe that a deal is being finalised”.
Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay confirmed that Mr Johnson will write a letter asking for an Article 50 extension if no deal is in place by Saturday, something the Prime Minister has repeatedly ruled out.