‘Lack of planning’ blamed for cold and flu medicine shortages

Brian Brolly, Pharmacy Supervisor at Grahame's Pharmacy on the Moss Road, Lisburn was speaking to the News Letter after the Association of Independent Multiple Pharmacies said there are supply issues of both branded and unbranded medicines to treat seasonal illnesses.

It comes after the UK Health Security Agency warned that winter illnesses including flu and Covid-19 continue to circulate at "high levels".

Last week Mr Brolly told the News Letter that products such as Lemsip and Night Nurse were very difficult to source and that most versions of them had sold out.

"But this week what we are noticing is patients coming in having already tried multiple pharmacies prior to us. And then when we say we are out of stock they indicate that they have been trying around. So it is clear that it is a widespread issue".

It is becoming more pronounced that customers are shopping around in desperation, he added.

"Our staff are struggling to get products in and to get alternatives with similar ingredients."

Across the UK, health officials are urging people to keep children with a fever off school and urged unwell adults to wear face masks to stem the spread of infections.

Association of Independent Multiple Pharmacies chief executive Leyla Hannbeck told the PA news agency that pharmacists were constantly "trouble shooting"."Pharmacists are struggling to obtain the very basic, most common cold and flu medicine," she said."This isn't just the branded medicines, it is also simple things like throat lozenges, cough mixtures or pain killers - particularly the ones that are soluble.”

The demand has been high because this season, she said, because of higher cases of colds and flu and that people are obviously trying very hard to look after themselves.

She added: "Unfortunately part of that [problem] is a lack of planning by officials (at the Department of Health and Social Care) in terms of foreseeing the problems and trying to plan in advance to sort it.

"For example, with cold and flu, we knew some months ago cases were going up and it was anticipated that there would be higher demand for these products."Not being able to access self-care products in pharmacies is leading to more pressure for the NHS.”