Northern Ireland's Department for Health has issued a statement on Tuesday, October 18, to quell fears to fears of medicine shortages after Community Phamarcy NI (CPNI) told BBC News that the 'supply of certain drugs is becoming critical'.
The organisation which represents Community Pharmacists across the province claimed that shortages and skyrocketing prices of many medicines could result in pharmacies being unable to supply important prescription medicines to patients.
This afternoon however the Health Minister and Department moved to reassure the public saying that 'there are national and locally tried and trusted mitigation arrangements in place for dealing with any supply distributions to ensure that patients continue to get the medicines they need'.
The statement continued:
"The Minister and Department are very aware of the pressures facing community pharmacies.
“The Minister and officials discussed the situation with Community Pharmacy NI (CPNI) representatives at a meeting last week.
"The scale of the unprecedented budgetary pressures and uncertainty currently facing the Department were spelt out.
"Notwithstanding these pressures, Community Pharmacy NI were informed that a support package for their sector was being finalised. This package includes immediate interventions worth over £5.3m in value, plus a commitment to progress wider reform arrangements in collaboration with CPNI.
"It is therefore somewhat surprising to see CPNI publicly demanding a package which it already knows is on the way."
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