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Pharmacists warn of a 'surge' in shortage of common medicines - BBC News
Pharmacists warn of a 'surge' in shortage of common medicines - BBC News
Pharmacists say they are struggling to obtain many common medicines and paying "vastly increased" prices for them.
This is leaving patients complaining of delays in getting hold of drugs such as painkillers, anti-depressants and blood pressure medication.
The BBC has found there has been a big rise in the number of drugs on the "shortage of supply" list for England.
There are 80 medicines in such short supply that the Department of Health has agreed to pay a premium for them.
This is up from 45 in October.
There are a number of reasons why this has happened, but there are now concerns that uncertainty over Brexit will only make the situation worse.
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society said there was "a massive shortage and price spikes".
What does this mean for patients?
Most people should be able to get their prescriptions filled as normal.
But if they need one of the drugs that is running short, they might not be so lucky.
Some pharmacists are sending patients back to their GPs to ask for a different medicine or dosage.
Others are giving as much of a drug as they can spare and sending people away with IOU notes for the remainder.
The best advice is to make sure you get prescriptions to your pharmacist in good time.
It is almost always possible to come up with an alternative.
However, that can be more difficult with conditions like epilepsy, where patients need to be on specific drugs.
This is leaving patients complaining of delays in getting hold of drugs such as painkillers, anti-depressants and blood pressure medication.
The BBC has found there has been a big rise in the number of drugs on the "shortage of supply" list for England.
There are 80 medicines in such short supply that the Department of Health has agreed to pay a premium for them.
This is up from 45 in October.
There are a number of reasons why this has happened, but there are now concerns that uncertainty over Brexit will only make the situation worse.
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society said there was "a massive shortage and price spikes".
What does this mean for patients?
Most people should be able to get their prescriptions filled as normal.
But if they need one of the drugs that is running short, they might not be so lucky.
Some pharmacists are sending patients back to their GPs to ask for a different medicine or dosage.
Others are giving as much of a drug as they can spare and sending people away with IOU notes for the remainder.
The best advice is to make sure you get prescriptions to your pharmacist in good time.
It is almost always possible to come up with an alternative.
However, that can be more difficult with conditions like epilepsy, where patients need to be on specific drugs.
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