Patients have described the effect on their health and wellbeing of the ‘new normal’ of medicine shortages in Britain, which has led to three-month delays and 80-mile round trips to obtain medicines.
Simon Bell, a 43-year-old data analyst from Tyne and Wear, has cystic fibrosis and needs medication to help him digest food. “For people with cystic fibrosis, the part of our pancreas that releases enzymes and allows us to digest food doesn’t work, so we have to take these tablets, which do the job of what’s missing in our pancreas,” he says.
Bell says that since the coronavirus pandemic broke out, he has been short of Creon 25000, the drug he is taking, and once was unable to get his medication for more than three months.
Bell decided he had no choice but to start taking the medication as soon as he could get it, because the consequences of taking the drug are much more serious than taking a lower dose.
“I didn’t get anything for three months, so after that I started building up a supply by not taking my full dose of medicine every month, so now I always keep a three-month supply. Doctors would never advise this, but I feel like I have no choice,” says Bell.
The situation has raised concerns for Bell that his other medications will become deficient, causing him to become seriously ill. “Kaftrio is an expensive drug that would make us seriously ill if we stopped taking it,” he says. “If I were not able to obtain that medicine, it would have serious health consequences, long-term health and my ability to work. It can be quite devastating.”
Rhys Owens, 31, and his partner struggled to get permethrin cream when they were diagnosed with scabies in March. “We went to seven or eight different pharmacies and none of them had it, but eventually we were able to find a pharmacy that could prescribe the medication for us,” he says.
But for Owens, the delay in obtaining the medication caused great distress for him and his partner. “Scabies is uncomfortable and has a big impact on your daily life because you are tired and irritable and it affected my work,” he says.
Owens’ friends have also experienced delays. “I have friends who have difficulty getting antidepressants and ADHD medications, and the delays I’ve experienced have made me concerned about whether I might experience medication shortages for something more serious in the future.”
Isobel Abbot, 61, who lives in Anglesey, started having problems getting her hormone replacement therapy (HRT), which she has been taking for about two years.
“I’ve had to make an 80 mile round trip to get my HRT as there have been times when none of the pharmacies in Anglesey had it in stock,” says Abbot. “I had called around and none of the local pharmacies had been able to get them, not even the big ones like Boots.”
Abt fears she wouldn’t be able to work or pay her mortgage if she had to go without HRT for a long time.
“Without HRT it becomes difficult to work because of brain fog, and without HRT I also get really bad hot flashes, so I look flushed all the time. Without it I can’t sleep at night, which means you can no longer function during the day.”