Margaret McCartney: Daily drug shortages place avoidable pressure on primary care
There’s no clobetasone, ferrous fumarate, gentisone ear drops, metoprolol, valsartan, or mefenamic acid. These are not rare, esoteric drugs but workhorses of daily prescribing. Every day work is interrupted by news of what’s not available. Pharmacists with no stock phone the practice receptionists to tell them that patients need alternative prescriptions.

The prescription for the unavailable drug must be destroyed and an alternative generated for the next best drug. Pharmacies have different stockists, so a pharmacy further away might have what is lacking on shelves nearby. Is it fair to make patients traipse around several outlets looking for something that may not exist?

Everyone knows about the pressure on primary care. Instability of …