Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the availability of lactose-free medication in the South East.

The patient’s doctor is best placed to understand their requirements and might consider it necessary to prescribe lactose free products, possibly by brand. Alternatively, the doctor might be able to stipulate “lactose free” on the prescription and liaise with local pharmacists to find a suitable product.

The British National Formulary is an evidence-based independent drug formulary used by health professionals as a source of key information on the selection, prescribing, dispensing, and administration of medicines. It advises that the lactose content in most medicines is too small to cause problems in most lactose-intolerant patients. However, in patients with severe lactose intolerance, lactose content should be determined before prescribing, especially if they are taking several products containing lactose.

It is a requirement to state the presence of lactose on the label of a medicine. All ingredients present in a medicine must be declared in the patient information leaflet (PIL). The PIL is provided in the packaging of all medicines. In addition, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and the electronic medicines compendium can be used to see the composition of medicines licensed in the United Kingdom, with further information available at the following link:

https://www.medicines.org.uk/emc