Shortages of prescription drugs including those for hypertension, depression, diabetes and respiratory disease were ‘unacceptable’, according to the All Party Pharmacy Group. It has launched an inquiry into the problems in response to the ongoing problems.
The group’s chairman Kevin Barron (Lab, Rother Valley, south Yorkshire ) said the shortages were a ‘daily challenge’ for pharmacists. ‘This has been a problem for far too long, and as far as we can see the situation is not improving.’
Prescription medicines for nearly every major condition have been in short supply in recent times, he said. ‘It is simply not acceptable that patients are being put at risk by their unavailability, and we cannot leave the situation unresolved.’