The Bristol pharmacy owner has warned patients over the cost rise
(Image: SWNS)
A pharmacy proprietor has warned that the ‘most severe drug shortage on record’ has caused the cost of everyday medicines to surge, leaving him “so concerned”. Mo Almobaraki, 57, who runs two pharmacies across Bristol, explained it has become “increasingly difficult to obtain very basic medicine” including aspirin, heart medication or blood pressure medication.
He highlighted that beta blockers, heart or blood pressure medication, HRT (hormone replacement therapy) and Creon – prescribed for those with pancreatic insufficiency – are proving challenging to source. The pharmacy owner, with two decades of experience, revealed that last week the cost of a statin medication, used to lower cholesterol in the blood, rocketed “overnight” from £1 to £22.
This follows comments from Olivia Picard, the chair of the National Pharmacy Association (NPA), which represents 6,000 independent community pharmacies in the UK, who described current medicine shortages as “some of the most severe the UK has ever experienced”.
Mo, who has worked in the sector for 26 years, expressed his concerns: “People are worried about their medication – elderly people – and they can’t get it. It’s just so difficult and so concerning.”
Mo inside one of his pharmacies
Pharmacies buy medications and receive NHS reimbursement, but Mo explained his business is being forced to pay additional costs for drugs as prices have climbed while the reimbursement amount for each drug, determined by the NHS, has remained static. With approximately five million people across England relying on statins, Mo highlighted that “thousands, maybe millions” of packs of such medicines are handed out to patients daily, yet pharmacies are left shouldering the financial burden.
“Either we refuse to give it to the patients because we are unable to obtain it or if we are able to obtain it we have to pay extra, above the reimbursements from the NHS,” he explained. Mo pointed out that this shortfall “will incur a loss for the pharmacy so we are actually working in the negative”.
He added: “This is our difficulty. If we can’t get it, that will have an impact on patient safety. The patient is either left without medication or the patient has to run around between different pharmacies.
“It has an impact on our time. You have to ring different suppliers, you have to ring different wholesalers, you have to ring the [doctor’s] surgery to get an alternative. It’s just been so hard, so difficult.”
Mo emphasised the problem didn’t emerge “last week”. “It’s just been getting worse since the lockdown, the pandemic, I think it’s getting worse and worse and worse,” he said.
Creon and Estradot shortage protocols
Serious Shortage Protocols (SSPs) have remained active for Creon since May 2024 and were prolonged by the NHS in April until 10 July, marking a new record, while Estradot, a hormone replacement therapy medication, has had an SSP since December 2024 and was similarly extended by the NHS in April to continue until 10 July. Mo also highlights that his business faces pressure “squeezed really hard on both sides”, stemming not only from the scarcity and cost of medication but also from the rollout of patient consultations via the Pharmacy First scheme in early 2024.
The initiative allows NHS pharmacies to provide prescriptions for minor ailments and was intended to ease NHS strain, yet the medicine shortages combined with high demand for Pharmacy First services have left the business feeling “squeezed”.
The pharmacy proprietor believes the government has “an important role to control that shortage” and is urging officials to “step in in terms of availability and negotiate a better deal with wholesalers,” noting that “at pharmacy level, I don’t know what’s created that shortage of medicine”.
He continues: “The Government needs to step in and to support pharmacies because we are kind of ‘hands tied’ in obtaining medicine. If we obtain it we have to pay extra to get it for the patient’s safety.
“Ethically, we cannot say we cannot dispense your prescription because it is well above what we’re reimbursed. We’re not able to say that, so we have no option. If we obtain it, we buy it at a loss and we give it to the patient. It all just has an impact on the pharmacy and basically has an impact on the patients.”
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “The overwhelming majority of medicines licensed in the UK are in good supply and patients should know that when visiting the pharmacy, their prescriptions will be available. Ensuring there is robust supply of medicines is vital and this government is making significant investments in the UK medicine manufacturing industry to strengthen it.”