Patients face Christmas without vital drugs as costs of basic pharmacy ... trends now
Patients risk being left without drugs they need this Christmas due to huge price rises that are making it unaffordable for pharmacists to buy the medicines in.
Wholesale prices for common drugs including steroids, migraine medication and indigestion treatments have rocketed in the last few months, say chemists, with some quadrupling or more.
But the amount high street pharmacies are being reimbursed for them by the NHS has lagged behind.
Now, increasing numbers of chemists are running out of their existing stocks – but not buying in more, saying that would soon leave them bankrupt.
Dr Leyla Hannbeck, chief executive of the Association of Multiple Independent Pharmacies (AIMP), said: 'A typical pharmacy faces losing tens of thousands of pounds a month if it continues to purchase these drugs.'
Wholesale prices for common drugs including steroids, migraine medication and indigestion treatments have rocketed in the last few months, say chemists, with some quadrupling or more. (Stock image)
Medicines affected include the steroid prednisolone, used to help control conditions like asthma and rheumatoid arthritis; various antibiotics; drugs for people with mental health problems, zolmitriptan for migraine and cluster headaches; and even sildenafil, the unbranded form of Viagra.
A 30-pack of prednisolone now costs just under £60 wholesale – but pharmacists get just £13.88 to dispense it. Similarly, 60 tablets of the anti-psychotic amisulpride now costs them about £34, but the reimbursement rate is £7.37.
Ian Strachan, who runs four chemists in North West England, said he was having to ask asthma patients – who can need prednisolone to control attacks – to hunt around other pharmacies for it, as his stock was so limited.
He said: 'We are having to
