Almost half of UK adults struggling to get prescription drugs amid shortages

9 comments

1. I’m surprised half of the UK population are even prescribed anything at all

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4. I’m only one person so I’m obviously not statistically relevant at all but I have an illness that requires me to easily get 10+ prescriptions per month, quite a few are less common or fairly new drugs.

   That said, I haven’t had any issues at all getting the medication I need. Not once.

   Sometimes the local small chemist doesn’t have the medication I need in stock but they order it for collection the following day. This isn’t down to shortages but down to some of my medication being more uncommon and not stocked everywhere.

   I’ve only good things to say about the NHS treatment I’ve have and the chemist.

5. I live in a major city and couldn’t get my prescription (a very common one) even after going to five different Boots outlets. It’s the same nearly every month.

6. My parents changed pharmacy as their local one was bought out and all medications were now being shipped from a ‘hub’ in Stoke-on-Trent to North Wales.

   NHS Wales app said “allow 7 working days for delivery”, which just seems inefficient to me. I don’t know why they couldn’t also have a ‘local’ depot for North Wales in Wrexham or Conwy or something.

   The other noticeable change was the drugs being prescribed were the right dose, but they were both getting different brands every few months!

7. It’s got worse, but this is the long fallout and has been like this for ages. Vet supplies have been almost non existent since pre-covid.

   I know we are meant to scream “it’s not brexit, it’s a fire in Ireland” but come on. I believe what I can see with my own eyes not rhetoric

8. Lots of pharmacies are going out of business at present: https://www.thcprimarycare.co.uk/amp/the-closure-of-community-pharmacies-and-what-this-means-for-the-wider-health-system-in-2023

   I’ve had problems getting prescriptions for both me and my son over the last year but it’s due to different problems for each medication.

   Plus two local pharmacies have closed.

9. Another day, another brexit triumph. But whatever happens, we must not go back to those cursed days were we could get a prescription and know it would be filled. Oh no. The only thing that matters is respecting the vague wishes of dead racists.