Pharmacy Daily | Shortages impact on pharmacists’ wellbeing

MEDICINE shortages are having a palpable impact on Australian pharmacists, with more than nine in 10 reporting frequent delays in patient treatment due to low stock.

A national survey undertaken by University of South Australia (UniSA) researchers found that medicine shortages are increasing patient stress as well as pharmacists' workloads, with almost 90% being forced to source medicines from non-regular wholesalers at least weekly.

While the survey was undertaken in late 2023, medicine shortages remain an ongoing issue.

There are 419 medicines currently affected, particularly those relating to weight loss, ADHD, cholesterol and hormone patches, and supplies for 61 of them expected to be impacted in the next few months and years.

"Medicine shortages not only place an operational strain on pharmacists, but also create ethical dilemmas," UniSA lecturer in pharmacy, Dr Jack Janetzki said.

"Pharmacists must navigate between ensuring equitable access and maintaining regulatory compliance, often with limited resources," he explained.

When facing restrictions, pharmacists have limited options, Dr Janetzki said.

"They can contact the doctor asking them to prescribe an alternative medicine, approach different wholesalers other than their regular suppliers, or refer the patient to a different pharmacy, hoping they can help them, he said, adding "it's not an ideal situation".

A different dosage or medicine strength can only be substituted by contacting the doctor or if it is listed on the TGA's Serious Scarcity Substitution Instrument (SSI) list.

More than 90% of Australian medicines are imported, which particularly affected supplies during the COVID pandemic, but Dr Janetzki said manufacturing medicines locally is not an easy option to improve supplies because of the high costs of medicine production in Australia.

There are processes that could be trialled to address the shortages.

"Maintaining an inventory of medicines across all pharmacies would minimise impacts on customers, because staff could quickly identify where medicines are available rather than having to call nearby pharmacies to determine whether they have them on hand," Dr Janetzki said.

"The TGA currently requires drug companies to notify them of expected medicine shortages six months in advance, but it would also help if there was anticipatory approval of overseas medicines for critical medicines.

"This would minimise the time people need to wait to access their medicines during a shortage of medicines registered in Australia."

The research was published in Journal of Pharmacy Practice and Research - read the paper HERE.