40+ MPs sign letter to Health Sec to end meds shortages
MPs call on Health Sec Wes Streeting to end the misery endured by epilepsy sufferers due to struggles in getting life-saving medications.
More than 40 MPs have signed a letter calling on Health Secretary Wes Streeting to end the misery endured by people with epilepsy as they struggle to get their medication.
Last month news broke of the death of 44-year-old David Crompton from Yorkshire who died after being given an IOU for his epilepsy medication from his pharmacy. The tragedy follows a year of ongoing medication shortages across the country that have left people with worsening symptoms.
And SUDEP Action has also reported on the death of Charlie Marriage, who was unable to get emergency medications when he most needed them.
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Working alongside health charities, SUDEP Action, the Epilepsy Society and Epilepsy Action, the cross-party MPs are calling for an end to ongoing medication shortages. In their letter they say: “It is crucial that the cause for this shortfall and potential solutions are understood if we are to safeguard people’s health and ensure they have their life-saving medications.”
A survey by the charities and Parkinson’s UK of almost 1,500 people with epilepsy or Parkinson’s disease showed that 70% of respondents had experienced difficulties in getting vital medication, with 55% having to visit multiple pharmacies before getting their prescription fulfilled and 66% only being given a fraction of their medication due to limited supplies. Many reported a worsening of symptoms due to the shortages.
The MPs told the Health Secretary: “There are 630,000 people in the UK with epilepsy. As Members of Parliament, we all have constituents whose lives have been deeply, sometimes irreversibly, damaged by the shortage of medications they need to function and live. The delays experienced in getting their vital treatment have forced patients to go without their medication or switch to inadequate alternatives. Doing so places those with epilepsy at risk of sudden, sometimes fatal, seizures.
“If action is not taken to properly understand the crisis we face, and explore potential solutions, it will worsen. A review into the shortage of vital medications is urgently needed.”
The charities issued the following statement: “Over the last year we have been calling on the government to commission a review of the medicines supply chain and we have warned about the potential for breakthrough seizures caused by lack of medication, to be fatal. We hope the Health Secretary will now appreciate the urgency of addressing this situation before there is another fatality. The medicines supply chain is a complex and global issue but people must be assured of their life-saving medication and we stand ready to assist in finding a solution to this ongoing issue.”
The MPs to put their names to the open letter to Wes Streeting are as follows:
Sadik Al-Hassan
Mike Amesbury
Jess Brown-Fuller
Ian Byrne
David Chadwick
Wendy Chamberlain
Bambos Charalambous
Ann Davies
Paul Davies
Carla Denyer
Caroline Dineage
Alex Easton
Column Eastwood
Cat Eccles
Daniel Francis
Mary Foy
Olly Glover
Sarah Hall
Christine Jardine
Liz Jarvis
Kim Johnson
Ruth Jones
Ayoub Khan
Sonia Kumar
John McDonnell
Helen Maguire
Paul Maskey
Llinos Medi
Abitsam Mohammed
Helen Morgan
David Mundell
Charlotte Nichols
Jo Platt
Yasmin Qureshi
Roz Savage
Vikki Slade
Lauren Sullivan
Zarah Sultana
Sammy Wilson
Rosie Wrighting
Mohammed Yasin
