Blog Post

Prescriptions: Everything together all at once.

If you are prescribed several medicines, tablets or other treatments, you may find collecting them a frustrating experience. Quite often, a single pharmacy simply won’t have everything you need in the quantities you require. But there is a solution…

If you – or someone you care for – require multiple items from your pharmacy, you don’t need experts like the British Medical Journal (BMJ) to tell you shelves are increasingly bare and supplies erratic. 

Specifically, the BMJ note, supply problems with antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, antidepressants, anti-epileptic drugs, anti-psychotics, statins, and oral contraceptives. If you need any of these, you’ll feel frustrated and anxious when what you need simply isn’t there. 

The same body cites learned sources such as Chemist and Druggist, and the Pharmacy magazine reporting UK shortages across “all 36 categories of medicines” and “30 brands of hormone replacement therapy (HRT)”. Tamoxifen, a key ingredient in breast cancer therapy, is also affected. These aren’t nice to have products. If you know, you know. 

It has required the UK Government to restrict the export of 19 HRT pharmaceuticals to address the domestic shortfall. If you are worried about your own prescription, here’s a list of affected UK drugs. 

Why is this happening?

Depends on who you ask. Many blame the UK government for a lack of planning and that the problem was foreseeable. Others point at the problem being more widespread across the EU and beyond. This report includes Turkey and other non-EU countries. A full 25% report shortages of more than 600 drugs. Four countries link such shortages to increased mortality. 

One view is that the post-lockdown world is more vulnerable to certain diseases and that means an increased demand for remedies. Another is that higher energy costs are impacting production. Smaller manufacturers simply can’t afford to carry on.  The war in Ukraine and Brexit are also mentioned as the cause behind the effect. Whatever the reason, the result is the same. 

So, what can you do? 

The Pharmaceutical Journal offers four steps towards addressing the UK’s drug supply shortfall. But unless you’re in the sitting Government, you’re less concerned with an overarching strategy, and more about the daily concern of getting what you need. 

The key for the UK pharmacy trade is identifying the right wholesalers. The UK Government recognises 24 such suppliers in the UK. In 2020, there were nearly 3,000 so-called ‘short line’ suppliers for UK chemists. The big beast in the field is Alliance Healthcare, with more than 17,800 ‘points of care’.

How Coda delivers.

For our pharmacy, the key to ensuring a regular, reliable supply is in using the network of suppliers to best effect. While some pharmacies tie themselves to a narrow cartel of perhaps three wholesalers, Coda casts a broader net. 

Coda overcome distribution challenges to ensure our online customers can be sure we’ll deliver.