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Pharmacists say HRT crisis could be resolved ‘quickly’ by cutting red tape that prevents them from prescribing alternative drugs
- English Pharmacy Board chair calls for chemists to be able to alter prescriptions
- Women have to go back to their GPs to get different HRT if theirs is out of stock
- Thousands of menopausal women have struggled to their hands on key drugs
Pharmacists have doubled down on calls to get rid of red tape that blocks them from prescribing alternative HRT treatments amid the nationwide shortage.
Thousands of menopausal women have struggled to their hands on the key drugs, which has left the most desperate rationing prescriptions or turning to the black market.
In hope of alleviating the crisis, chemists have repeatedly called on Sajid Javid to ditch rules that force women to go back to their GPs for new prescriptions to get alternatives prescribed.
But Sajid Javid — who held talks with manufacturers yesterday — has yet to announce a change, despite promising to ‘do all I can’ to fix the crisis.
Thorrun Govind, chair of the English Pharmacy Board, told MailOnline changes in prescription rules need to be changed urgently.
She said: ‘For the pharmacists on the ground, they need the ability to get rid of this bureaucracy.
‘When you think about it — who’s best able to offer an alternative — that tends to be the pharmacist.’
There were about 512,000 NHS prescriptions written for ‘female sex hormones and their modulators’ in England in February, the latest official data shows, compared to 265,000 in March 2017. Many of these will be HRT medications but some may include other female hormone drugs such as contraceptives
Sajid Javid and Madelaine McTernan, head of the HRT supply taskforce, met with pharmacists and drug manufacturers yesterday to find solutions to the issue
A national shortage of Oestrogel (left), the most popular HRT drug used by around 30,000 women, is driving the crisis. Bijuve (right), manufactured by Theramex, is considered an alternative to Oestrogel. However, it is only available in Oxford, Somerset and Norfolk
The Health Secretary and Madelaine McTernan, head of the HRT supply taskforce, met with pharmacists and drug manufacturers yesterday to find solutions to the issue.
He pledged to ‘leave no stone unturned’ in improving supplies of hormone replacements.
Professor Claire Anderson, president of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, said: ‘We welcome the Health Secretary meeting with key suppliers and manufacturers to find solutions to the current shortages.’
Thorrun Govind, chair of the English Pharmacy Board, told MailOnline: ‘For the pharmacists on the ground, they need the ability to get rid of this bureaucracy’
But she said cutting the red tape holding pharmacists back could provide a ‘quick fix’ that would allow ‘women to access their HRT medicines more speedily’.
Professor Anderson said: ‘At present, women have to go back to their GP to get a minor amendment made.
‘Enabling pharmacists to alter prescriptions would also be far more efficient for the NHS.’
Thousands of women have been unable to obtain the therapy for menopause symptoms such as low mood, brain fog and hot flushes.
A national shortage of Oestrogel, the most popular HRT drug that is used by around 30,000 women, is driving the crisis.
London-based firm Theramex, which makes similar hormone replacement therapy gels, said it warned the Department of Health about the impending crisis last October.
Ministers, however, blame manufacturing issues caused by the pandemic.
The Government last week instilled a former Covid Vaccine Taskforce chief as the new HRT tsar to get a grip on the crisis.
Former investment banker Ms McTernan’s first move was to introduce a three-month prescription limit on Oestrogel and two other popular brands to ration supplies.
On Saturday, the Daily Mail launched a manifesto calling for urgent changes to the way HRT medication is prescribed, processed and distributed.
It also demands an immediate curriculum change, making it mandatory for medical students to be taught about the menopause, and for women to be given menopause information at NHS health checks.
Source: DailyMail
