Strep A Treatments: Supply

Rachael Maskell Excerpts
Monday 19th December 2022

(1 year, 11 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Maria Caulfield Portrait Maria Caulfield
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There are sufficient stocks in the country to meet demand.

Rachael Maskell Portrait Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op)
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The deputy chair of the British Medical Association’s general practitioners committee told the Health Committee two weeks ago about the challenges faced by GPs in accessing appropriate pharmaceuticals. What are NHS planners doing to ensure that logistics are getting stocks to the appropriate place in a timely way? With strep A, we just cannot wait.

Maria Caulfield Portrait Maria Caulfield
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Absolutely. That is why wholesalers have expedited deliveries and increased the number of deliveries that are going to pharmacies. We are working with NHS England, with UKHSA and with pharmaceutical bodies to make sure that those supplies are getting to them. But we recognise that even with the expedited and extra deliveries there is still demand on supplies, which is why the SSPs have been issued—so that pharmacists can dispense not just alternative preparations of what has been prescribed, but alternative substitutes.