PSNC has discontinued its list of branded medicines shortages because pharmacists are not reporting them.

The list, which PSNC removed from its website last month, did not reflect products that suffered regular supply problems because pharmacists were making "very few" reports, the negotiator said at the time.

PSNC began maintaining a list of branded medicines in short supply in 2008, as a way to highlight to wholesalers which products should not be exported.

Shortages had "sadly become a routine part" of pharmacists' work and were not being sufficiently reported to make the list accurate, PSNC head of support services Komal George told C+D yesterday (May 27).  

Pharmacists are making "very few" notifications of supply problems because shortages have become "routine", says the negotiator	More on stock shortages Video: No solution to stock shortages C+D stock shortages report fails to rouse ‘complacent' government C+D report: Medicines shortages 2013
	Contractors can still alert the negotiator to problems obtaining a branded medicine by filling in an online questionnaire, which is passed on to the Department of Health. PSNC also maintains a list of branded medicines that have had their supply affected by manufacturing problems.

Earlier this month, pharmacy minister Earl Howe urged pharmacists to report instances of or potential for patient harm due to shortages, in response to a C+D report that highlighted evidence of harm in three quarters of cases.

Earl Howe ignored C+D's call for "urgent action" to improve the supply chain and said the size of the supply network meant there would "occasionally" be problems with obtaining some medicines.

Contractors branded his response "unacceptable" and said it was time for the government to take its "head out of the sand".

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