Pharmacy minister Earl Howe has reiterated his defence of the government's approach to medicines supply and called on pharmacists to prove that shortages are causing patient harm, in an exclusive interview with C+D.

It was "frustrating in the extreme" for pharmacists who have to struggle day to day with managing shortages, sourcing alternative suppliers or trying to source a medicine when there is no supply, Earl Howe said last week (July 30).

However, he added that the supply chain "does generally work very smoothly". "I think our overall approach is the right one and the key is to work closely with the supply chain," he said.

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	The Department of Health's medicines supply chain group continued to review the information on shortages that it receives from PSNC and Pharmacy Voice, Earl Howe said. This system of information sharing was "working well" and the "vast majority" of these shortage problems were "managed away" on a day-to-day basis, he said.

However, he was surprised to hear that 57 per cent of respondents to C+D's Stocks Survey 2012 felt shortages had harmed at least one of their patients. Pharmacists should gather evidence that shortages were causing patients harm and send it to one of the pharmacy bodies, Earl Howe said.

If pharmacists were able to prove that patients were suffering serious harm as a result of shortages, then the government would be in a better position to improve the situation, he said.

"We've asked pharmacists for any serious examples of serious harm befalling the patient, as opposed to inconvenience, which of course we know occurs," he said. "It is important for us to understand who is being harmed and what is the nature of that harm. Then it's easier for us to compile a better picture nationally."

Earl Howe admitted that there could be merit in the government's supply chain group being more transparent about its work, but it might be best "not to throw a light on absolutely everything that's going on", he added.

Pharmacy leaders hit back at Earl Howe in November last year when he told the all-party pharmacy group that the government's approach to shortages was "working well". He was also "not aware" of the shortages causing patient harm, he said at the time.

Look out later this week for a set of tools C+D is supplying to help you record instances of patient harm, which we will then present to the government later in the year.

Read C+D's exclusive interview with Earl Howe here.

What instances of patient harm resulting from stock shortages have you seen in your pharmacy? Comment below or email us at [email protected] You can also find C+D on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook