Supplies of antibiotics for children not getting through as fears of Strep A increase

A LOCAL pharmacy owner has warned there is a chronic shortage of the antibiotics used to treat Strep A.

It comes as the number of children under 15 who had died from Strep A in the UK has risen to 15.

The Gompels pharmacy in Melksham say they can’t get hold of stocks because wholesalers have no availability.

“Problems over supply of antibiotics has got a lot worse in recent days with increasing number of cases of Strep A,” said Paddy Gompels.

“For children, it’s antibiotic liquid and there are very few we can get. This has never happened before with antibiotics; not that I can recall.

“The shortages are a symptom of a system that is under extreme stress. Shortages of antibiotics and medication, delays from suppliers and major pricing issues have been going on for well over a year. That’s nothing new to us, but because of the concerns over Strep A, the antibiotic problems have increased.

“The government may say there are no shortages but there are; we’re certainly not the only pharmacy who can’t get supplies. It’s a national problem. There are Twitter threads all over the country from pharmacies screenshotting the supply problems.

“As pharmacies go, we’ve probably got more suppliers than most, but we’ve still been unable to get stocks. We use eight different suppliers and their systems are all showing they are out of stock. We are spending hours each day chasing stock that then doesn’t come in; there is a serious problem.

“Interestingly, there was an announcement that tablets could be broken down for children to use when liquids are unavailable but yesterday evening (Thursday last week), all the capsules were also out of stock.

Working closely with surgeries

“We’re working very closely with the surgeries, issuing a daily list in the morning to surgeries, so they know which items we have in stock so they can prescribe accordingly.

“There have been supply problems for some time, but it has got worse recently because of the concerns over Strep A.

“It’s very worrying for the NHS and how they will handle these shortages going forward. The pharmacy market is very, very volatile at the moment in terms of getting supplies of both antibiotics and medicines generally and there is no sign that things are going to improve.”

‘Good supply’

The Government’s Health Secretary, Steve Barclay MP, told Sky News last week that he has been reassured by medical suppliers that there is a ‘good supply’, though he admitted some GPs may have shortages while stock is moved around.

“As of last night, when we checked (with suppliers), they said they could reassure us that they’ve got good stock and were moving that around to meet demand,” he said.

But Dr Leyla Hannbeck, chief executive of the Association of Independent Multiple Pharmacies, said if there is a decent supply of stock, ‘pharmacies are not getting them’.

She tweeted, “Pharmacies are reporting shortage of amoxicillin liquid for children at a time when cases of Strep A are rising,” and said, when pharmacists go online to order, “they get a message basically coming through saying that the stock is unavailable.”

The National Pharmacy Association said there had been a surge in demand for some antibiotics, including those used to treat the Strep A infection in children.

A statement said, “Pharmacies are having to work very hard to obtain stocks of these antibiotics, and some lines are temporarily unavailable.

“We have been advised by wholesalers that most lines will be replenished soon, but we cannot say exactly when that will be.

“As always, pharmacists will continue to work with local GPs to help people get the medicines they need as promptly as possible, which may require a change of prescription.”