LONDON (Reuters) – British pharmacies said on Monday they were seeing delays to deliveries of medicines in some areas and called on the government to ensure a robust contingency plan was in place to prevent deeper medicine supply problems.
“Pharmacists and their teams have been working very hard to ensure patients have access to their medicines during the current crisis,” Leyla Hannbeck, CEO of the Association of Independent Multiple Pharmacies (AIMp), told Reuters.
“While the situation with fuel crisis has started to improve, we are aware that some geographical areas continue to be affected by delays to deliveries of medicines,” Hannbeck said.
Hannbeck said the crisis was having a considerable impact on the workload and stress of pharmacists.
“We are watching the situation with delivery drivers and fuel crisis very closely and are liaising with the government and asking the government to ensure robust contingency plans and strategy are in place to ensure medicines supply is not affected and that we can continue caring for our patients,” Hannbeck said.
AIMp represents community pharmacy businesses with multiple pharmacies. Its members represent a significant number of pharmacies across the United Kingdom.
(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; editing by Michael Holden)
