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The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) has renewed its call for the Government to change legislation to allow pharmacists to substitute medicines that are in shortage, warning patients are waiting up to three weeks to receive their treatments because of “out of date” laws.

A survey of more than 400 NPA members revealed patients’ health and wellbeing is being jeopardised by a combination of delays to drugs supply and the inadequacies of The Medicines Act 1968 which does not contain provisions for pharmacists to provide an alternative medicine.

Ninety-seven per cent of members reported patients waiting at least a day for their medicine while pharmacists chase a new prescription and some patients have waited over three weeks.

Outdated law stops pharmacists supplying two 10mg tablets instead of one 20mg tablet 

The NPA said the “outdated legislation” was preventing pharmacists from supplying tablets rather than capsules or two 10mg tablets instead of one 20mg tablet where “clinically appropriate and where formulations are equivalent”.

Ninety-five per cent of members said patients went without their medicine after being referred back to their prescriber and the pharmacy was also prevented from dispensing from its “safe alternative formulation in stock”.

Ninety-eight per cent of members said they were unable to supply medicines to patients at least once a day “despite having a safe alternative in stock”.

The NPA said “distressed patients” had to wait for more than a week for changes to be made for a different formulation of quetiapine, a medicine which helps manage schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression.

One pharmacist said an eight-year-old patient with a urinary tract infection had to go to A&E because a particular strength of cefalexin was out of stock, even though the pharmacist had an alternative formulation available.

“The patient would have had to wait several days for their GP to amend the prescription, due to the incident occurring on a bank holiday,” the NPA said.

Its chair Olivier Picard warned the situation was “not only frustrating for patients but also dangerous”.

Insisting legislative change is “urgently” needed, he said: “It is madness to send someone back to their GP to get a prescription changed when a safe alternative is in stock.

“It risks a patient either delaying taking vital medication or forgoing it altogether, which poses a clear risk to patient safety. A lot has changed in 60 years. Medicine shortages are now becoming common place and pharmacists are delivering more clinical care than ever before.”