Antibiotics Sheffield: Parents call for action after three-day search for medicine across city's pharmacies

The two dads individually told The Star how they both called more than 15 pharmacies across the city and were still unable to find medicine for their daughters.

It comes as a nationwide shortage of antibiotics has been reported amid fears of rising Strep A infections in the UK. GPs and chemists are reportedly struggling to meet demand, particularly for liquid stocks that are suitable for children.The two Sheffield dads are calling for authorities to step in and publish where there are shortages so other parents do not have to ring round looking for supplies.

Director of public health for Sheffield, Greg Fell, told The Star he had been “assured” there are no supply chain issues and deliveries were made today (December 12).

Paul Hirst, 42, a father of two from Norton Lees, said: “Last week my three-year-old daughter went to the doctors. At first they thought it was a viral infection but when it got worse we went to Broad Lane Medical Centre on Thursday who said it was bacterial and were prescribed phenoxymethylpenicillin [Pen V].

“As soon as I got out the centre I started ringing around – they all said they didn’t have any and didn’t know anyone who did across the whole city. I phoned all the chemists I could and none had it in stock.”

Paul was unable to get hold of any until this morning (December 12) after an anxious three-day wait over the weekend with his poorly daughter.

“Some had tablets, but my daughter wouldn’t have been able to have those – we needed the liquid antibiotics,” he said. “When we called our doctors at Woodseats Medical Centre as soon as they opened, the queue was 77 people long.

“If I hadn’t been able to find some this morning I would be considering going straight to the children’s hospital. People need to be made aware if there is a supply issue and what is being done.”

James Farmer, 33, a father of two from Hillsborough, was given a prescription on Friday for clarithromycin. He said: “I took my daughter to Broad Lane Medical Walk In Centre on Friday when she became poorly. Even then, there was a six to seven hour wait to be prescribed antibiotics.

“I kept calling pharmacies, who said they didn’t have any antibiotics and didn’t know where we could get any. It took 15 or so calls to pharmacists to find what we needed. We got some eventually in Woodhouse but I know other parents who haven’t.

“I think awareness needs to be raised. I think there are a lot of parents who don’t envision that there will be a problem when they go to a pharmacy. What’s being done to rectify this?”

Director of public health for Sheffield Greg Fell said there were likely to be shortages as the threshold for both prescribing antibiotics and what parents will go to the doctors for has been lower due to concerns over Strep A and scarlet fever.

He said: “I have been assured by NHS England there’s no shortage of supplies. There surely are some temporary disruptions otherwise parents would not be saying they are struggling to find antibiotics.

“I think it’s fair to say whatever disruption there is is temporary. There is a big demand for them for all the reasons covered in the press. I don’t have the data, but I would say the vast majority, however, are getting supplies.”

Mr Fell said he did not know if it was possible for any authority to provide a rolling update on which pharmacies do and do not have antibiotics, but he was aware large deliveries had been made today.

He added: “Strep A is actually a very common cause of sore throat and progressing to scarlet fever is very rare, although very serious when it does. My advice to any parent is to start by calling 111 or going to the NHS website, which will advise whether to seek medical help. And, every parent knows their own child the best, and they should trust their own instincts if they think something is unusual or serious.”

It comes as the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) says the number of children under 15 who had died from invasive strep A illness in the UK has risen to 16.

The Intergrated Care Board – which is responsible for seeing community pharmacies are stocked – has been contacted for a comment.

It comes as a senior pharmacist claims some chemists are being “forced to pay £11” for a course of antibiotics due to a spike in demand.

Reena Barai, community pharmacist contractor and board member of the National Pharmacy Association, said staff “are very frustrated” by a shortage of drugs and were being forced to pay inflated prices for antibiotics, which normally cost £2.

Ms Barai told Sky News: “What we saw last week was a very frustrating week for us in community pharmacy, where we were seeing lots of prescriptions coming through for antibiotics.

“Most of us had some stock to kind of complete those prescriptions, but towards the end of the week, we came to a situation that we were struggling to order any antibiotics in and all our wholesalers were telling us they're out of stock.

“Yet there was mixed messaging coming from the Government to say that there was stock available and, finally on Saturday, we did get a delivery of a small quantity of antibiotics, particularly the liquid form that's used for children and some of the very vital penicillin that is used to treat strep infections.

“But I literally got two boxes. That was my quota. That's all I was allowed for the delivery on Saturday.”