NHS England (NHSE) chief executive Sir Jim Mackey has said the body is “really worried” about the prospect of medicine shortages due to the ongoing war in the Middle East.
Speaking on LBC yesterday, he said that the NHS has “already had a couple of supply shocks in the last 12 to 18 months of key supplies”.
He explained that the NHS “have a team stood up to focus on where the risks might be through the supply chain”, but added that “honestly, everything is at risk”.
Read more: Medicine shortages are ‘national security issue’, says House of Lords
NHSE has enough supply to “get through a reasonable period”, which is generally considered to be “a few weeks”, Mackey said.
But he added that for some products, “it could be days” before the body faces supply issues.
The Guardian reported that a government spokesperson had said “there are currently no reported medicine shortages as a result of conflict in the Middle East”, adding that it will “continue to monitor the situation closely for any impacts on the medical supply chain”.
C+D approached the Department of Health and Social Care (DH) on this issue, but it declined to comment.
C+D also approached NHSE for comment but did not receive an immediate response.
Eye-watering
National Pharmacy Association (NPA) chief executive Henry Gregg said pharmacies were “already facing a medicine supply crisis before the conflict started”.
“Although we are not currently seeing a direct impact on supplies, we have been warning for years of growing issues in an increasingly fragile supply chain,” he added.
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Gregg stressed that medicine prices are “soaring” for pharmacies, with the government issuing an “unprecedented number of price concessions in an attempt to cover the growing price of many essential medicines”.
“Government price concessions are 120% higher than they were at the same time last year,” he said.
Gregg called on the government to “do all they can to reassure the public” and “support pharmacies with the eye-watering cost increases”.
Read more: New leaflets tell pharmacists ‘what to do’ about drug shortages
Independent Pharmacies Association (IPA) chief executive Dr Leyla Hannbeck said the government “must act now to ensure people are not left without the vital treatments they depend on”.
“Pharmacies will continue to do everything possible to shield patients from the worst effects of these shortages, but without urgent and meaningful support from the government, there is only so much we can do with our hands tied behind our backs,” she added.
Read more: House of Lords launches inquiry into medicine shortages
It comes after a House of Lords report published in February found that the DH “does not effectively communicate shortages, or solutions, to frontline staff such as pharmacists”.
Medicine supply issues “are not prioritised as the potential national security issue that they represent given the significant risk to people’s health”, it said at the time.
