{"id":310003,"date":"2026-02-21T15:01:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T15:01:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/310003\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T15:01:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T15:01:13","slug":"warning-over-major-shortage-of-popular-painkiller-ration-it-now-uk-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/310003\/","title":{"rendered":"Warning over major shortage of popular painkiller \u2014 ‘ration it now’\u00a0 | UK | News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Patients have been urged to ration supplies of the painkiller<\/a> co-codamol amid a UK-wide shortage expected to last for months. Pharmacists sounded the alarm last week<\/a> about problems sourcing tablets, which are expected to last until June. The combination painkiller contains paracetamol and codeine and is commonly used to treat muscle aches, migraines and toothache.<\/p>\n

The Department of Health and Social Care has told prescribers not to start treating new patients with 30mg\/500mg doses of the drug and issued advice on alternative medications. Meanwhile, patients who are already taking co-codamol have been given advice on how to use their supplies. Some NHS<\/a> health boards in Scotland<\/a> have reportedly advised patients to start reducing their dose by around one tablet a week. NHS Lanarkshire said: \u201cWe are asking all patients (apart from patients who are having treatment for cancer) to start reducing the number of tablets they take.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

NHS Grampian said patients could use the shortage \u201cas a chance to think about whether co-codamol is the best medicine for you\u201d. It is recommended that patients reduce their dose by around one tablet every 1-2 weeks.<\/p>\n

The health board added: \u201cBecause of the supply problems, you may need to reduce more quickly, for example, one tablet at one dose every three to seven days.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome people may notice flu<\/a>-like symptoms, sweating or feeling on edge when reducing co-codamol use. These usually settle within a few days.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr Leyla Hannbeck, chief executive of the Independent Pharmacies Association, which represents around 5,000 pharmacies, told The Sun people taking co-codamol \u201cshould ration their supplies until supplies become stable in the summer.\u201d<\/p>\n

The shortage is linked to the Indian government delaying the authorisation to import ingredients required to make the drug there, the BBC<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n

Olivier Picard, chair of the National Pharmacy Association said: “Pharmacies across the country are struggling to obtain some strengths of co-codamol, and several suppliers are indicating disruption could last until at least June.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is deeply distressing for patients living with severe pain, and pharmacists are working tirelessly to find safe alternatives or manage very limited stock.<\/p>\n

“Where pharmacies have supplies, they will be doing all they can to manage them to ensure patients get the medication they need.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Patients have been urged to ration supplies of the painkiller co-codamol amid a UK-wide shortage expected to last…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":310004,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[145445,140874,103,42377,61,60,371,782,98769,39553,140875],"class_list":{"0":"post-310003","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-medication","8":"tag-alternative-medications","9":"tag-co-codamol-shortage","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-health-section","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-medication","15":"tag-nhs","16":"tag-nhs-advice","17":"tag-pain-relief","18":"tag-uk-pharmacies"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=310003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310003\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/310004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=310003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=310003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}