Pharmacists face ‘aggression from patients’ due to medicine shortages, poll says

A survey by the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee, which represents more than 11,000 chemists across the country, found 67% of its members are facing supply problems daily

Calls are growing for the Government to act as two in three pharmacists have shortages of drugs on a daily basis amid worsening access to HRT.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid announced on Sunday that he intends to appoint an HRT tsar amid a shortage of medication which has left menopausal women desperate.

The news comes as many women are reportedly sharing their prescriptions, with some said to be made suicidal by the debilitating menopause symptoms they suffer without the medication.

A survey by the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee, which represents more than 11,000 chemists across the country, found 67% of its members are facing supply problems daily.

The polling of more than 1,000 pharmacy staff found 75% had faced “aggression from patients due to medicine supply issues”.

Recent figures suggest the number of HRT prescriptions in the UK has more doubled in the last five years but stocks are running low, with one manufacturer of a commonly-used hormone replacement gel reporting supply problems.

Carolyn Harris MP, co-chairwoman of the UK Menopause Taskforce, said Mr Javid should tackle the shortages himself rather than appoint a tsar.

She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme the shortage of the gel has led to a rush on other HRT products, and she called for a loosening of regulations to allow equitable access.

She said one product, a pill, is only available to women in certain parts of the country, leading to it being “stacked high in warehouses” while those stocking the gel “are empty”.

She said “bad planning” was behind the shortages.

“The company that actually makes this product and the Government didn’t foresee the kind of demand there was going to be on it,” she said.

“The trouble with the menopause is for far too long women have not been listened to, women have been ignored, they’ve been prescribed and diagnosed with other conditions and the menopause wasn’t even considered.

“For a menopausal woman this HRT is as important as insulin is to a diabetic.”