Duncan Rudkin, Chief Executive of the GPhC, said:
“We have heard first-hand from patients, pharmacists and pharmacy technicians about the ongoing damaging impacts of medicines shortages. We welcome this timely and important report from the APPG on Pharmacy and we strongly agree with the APPG that the current situation of medicines shortages must not be allowed to become the new normal.
“We support the recommendations in the report to help tackle medicines shortages, including empowering pharmacists to make dose and formula substitutions when medicines are unavailable, to support continuity of care for patients and reduce pressures on pharmacy teams and GPs. We welcome the work already begun by the DHSC and are keen to support this wherever possible.
“Whilst we do not have a direct role in relation to managing medicines shortages, we are committed to being part of ongoing discussions about what more we can all do, across the healthcare sector, to help mitigate the significant impact they are having. For us, this includes supporting and enabling pharmacists and pharmacy technicians to make decisions in the best interests of their patients, when medicines are in short supply, through our standards and guidance. For example, we provided advice on how to minimise the impact of medicines shortages on patients, and how to meet our regulatory standards in these situations, in a recent article on medicines shortages in our e-newsletter sent to pharmacists and pharmacy technicians.
“We will continue to encourage pharmacy owners and pharmacy professionals to check the DHSC list of Medicines that you cannot export from the UK or hoard, as well as checking compliance with all applicable laws both in the UK and the destination country, before supplying any medicines outside the UK.”