 The NHS CEO has written a letter which includes the following clear message from the Chief Pharmaceutical Officer:
Dr Keith Ridge, has advised me that pharmacists who place profit before patient care will be in breach of their professional obligations, and may well be called before their professional regulator to justify their actions.
Representatives of manufacturers, wholesalers and pharmacies have held a series of meetings to discuss the current supply problems affecting branded medicines. The reasons are complex but a major contributing factor has been changes in the European import and export market.
Both manufacturers and wholesalers licenced to trade in the UK have a legal duty to ensure that UK patient needs are met and pharmacists and dispensing doctors have ethical obligations to ensure the needs of patients are always put first.
Agreement has been reached by the representative bodies of all parties in the supply chain to endorse and support the promotion of the existing legal and ethical obligations in relation to the trading of medicines in short supply. The obligations are outlined in the guidance note, “Trading Medicines for Human Use: Shortages and Supply Chain Obligations”
Please continue to log supply problems impacting on patient care using the Key Link on the right hand side of this web-page.
More information is available on the PSNC website.
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