Responding to the Department of Health's decision to extend Serious Shortage Protocols in place for Estradot and Creon, extending their record as Britain's longest running medicine shortages, Olivier Picard, Chair of the National Pharmacy Association said:
"It is deeply depressing for pharmacies and patients alike that Creon and Estradot have now had their unhappy title extended as being Britain's longest running medicine shortage on record.
"Creon is a lifeline to patients that depend on it, helping people with Pancreatic Cancer and Cystic Fibrosis digest food.
"Although we recognise support is being put in place, pharmacies continue to report to the NPA that they are finding patients that are being forced to skip meals and travel many miles to source supplies.
"This must act as an alarm call to the new Secretary of State to convene a taskforce to fully grasp this issue, bringing together all aspects of the supply chain.
"We have been clear for many years that although supply problems are frustrating to both patients and pharmacies, they can also present a serious risk to patient safety.
"The government should also urgently publish the outcome of its consultation on allowing pharmacies to make substitutions to a prescription, where there is a shortage of a particular medicine, rather than a patient having to potentially having to go back to their GP."
