NHS says only half the usual supply of prescription-strength is expected to be available until June.
UK households urged to ration popular painkiller – major shortage to last 4 months
UK households are being told to RATION a popular painkiller as a major shortage is predicted to last for months. The NHS says only half the usual supply of prescription-strength co-codamol is expected to be available until June.
“People taking co-codamol should ration their supplies until supplies become stable in the summer,” Dr Leyla Hannbeck, chief executive of the Independent Pharmacies Association, which represents around 5,000 pharmacies, told The Sun.
“They might be able to offer you [co-codamol] alternatives,” Dr Leyla said. It comes after NHS health boards and hospitals issued a warning over stock levels, with the medicine being prescribed over a million times a year.
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In recent days, NHS Lanarkshire said: “We are asking all patients (apart from patients who are having treatment for cancer) to start reducing the number of tablets they take.
“You should do this gradually over the next few weeks and then stop completely.
“If you are taking your co-codamol tablets every day, you need to start reducing your tablets now.”
NHS Grampian said pharmacists should “use professional judgement to prioritise stocks and quantities supplied to patients.”
Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board said: “We are very mindful of the enormous disruption this may cause.
“Please do not issue large quantities and be aware of potential orders for ‘stocking up’, including those on infrequent/when required supplies.”
“This is a distressing shortage,” Olivier Picard, Chair of the National Pharmacy Association (NPA), previously said. “Where pharmacies have supplies, they will be doing all they can to manage them to ensure patients get the medication they need,” Olivier added.
Olivier added: “The government must urgently act to address a growing list of medicine shortages impacting patients and pharmacists alike, who end up at the sharp end of an increasingly difficult medicine supply system.”
“One thing they could easily do to is allow pharmacists to make simple, safe substitutions to prescriptions where an item is out of stock, and save patients having to return to their GP without medication.”