Strep A: Northern Ireland pharmacists reveal antibiotics shortage and stress problem has not come 'out of the blue'

Gerard Greene, chief executive of Community Pharmacy NI, raised concerns around medicines supplies back in October with a hard-hitting statement that warned certain drugs might not be available due to soaring prices and problems with supply chains.

His organisation is calling for a revised funding model to deal with the problems.

And on Wednesday, Mr Greene said the current concern around Strep A infections has contributed to a shortage of penicillin and amoxycillin.

"Strep A is one reason why there’s a shortage,” he said. “What we would be saying in Community Pharmacy NI is that our pharmacies have been experiencing shortages of medicines here going back over a number of months, but the problem has been getting steadily worse.

“This is not something that has come out of the blue There should have been some forward planning around what was going to happen during the winter period.”

He continued: “Pharmacies’ funding is such that they are really struggling, so they have had to cut back the stock that they are holding in their pharmacies – pretty much to a bare mininum. What that means is that when there’s a run on a particular drug, their stock is wiped off their shelves straight away. They then, in turn, go to the wholesaler and say they need more stock. My understanding is that most of the pharmacies are in the same boat – they say we need penicillin and amoxicilin – so the wholesalers have run out.”

Mr Greene added: “It’s one of the contributory factors. But pharmacists have been dealing with shortages here for some time. We will always try to source the medicine but it is getting increasingly difficult. It’s a significant problem. It’s obviously a very important issue at the minute because of Strep A but it does shine a light on the fundamental problems pharmacies are facing and, indeed, the supply chain is facing.

“Our funding isn’t right to allow our pharmacies to have better resilience when these problems come.”