22 July 2022
Te Pātaka Whaioranga – Pharmac’s
work behind the scenes and unique arrangements with
suppliers means Aotearoa has been less affected by ongoing
supply disruptions than other countries. Currently there are
47 medicine
supply issues notified out of over 1000 funded
medicines, and Pharmac is always working hard behind the
scenes to ensure any impacts to New Zealanders and the
health sector are minimised. Most issues will not be noticed
by the public or cause significant disruption because
alternatives are secured and made available. In comparison,
Australia currently lists 321
medicine shortages, of which 47 are critical.
The
ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has been an unprecedented
challenge for global medicine and devices supply chains.
Increased demand, interruption of manufacturing processes,
and disruptions to international and local distribution
activities caused by millions of people being unwell have
all contributed to these issues.
“These supply
challenges are not unique to Aotearoa or to healthcare –
they are being felt across the world and across almost every
sector,” says director of operations Lisa Williams. “Our
team knows how distressing it can be to learn that a
medicine or device you use might not be available. It’s
really important we share some information about what we are
doing to manage supply issues.”
“Recent medicine
supply issues, though mostly short-term, have affected
fairly large groups of people in Aotearoa,” says Ms
Williams. “These include quinapril with
hydrochlorothiazide (branded as Accuretic), a blood pressure
medication, and lorazepam (branded as Ativan), a medicine
for anxiety and sleep issues. We have also found that some
disruptions have had more long-term consequences, such as
oestradiol (branded as Estradot) a hormone replacement
therapy, where an increase in demand and historic
manufacturing challenges have resulted in many people being
unable to fill their prescriptions.”
“Supply
issues can occur for a variety of reasons, such as shipping
or other distribution disruptions, an increase in demand,
manufacturing quality problems or product discontinuation.
COVID-19 has magnified all of these issues and more,” said
Ms Williams. When a potential supply issue is identified, we
work with the supplier to try to ensure there is continuity
in supply. Pharmac collaborates with others to source
alternative products including suppliers, Medsafe, and the
logistics sector to manage freight and distribution. Like
everyone we work with, we are committed to making sure we
can get the products New Zealanders need.”
“We do
want to highlight how well Pharmac’s contracts work to keep
medicine stocks available in the country,” said Ms Williams.
“A good example of this in May was around the worldwide
shortage of radiological contrast media – the colourless
dye radiographers use to improve visibility in X-rays.
Countries like Australia and the U.S got down to one week
supply after a factory closure, but Pharmac’s
single-supplier contract requires two months of usual
national demand to be held in the country and the
obligations to maintain supply meant our orders made it to
the front of the queue. This meant that Aotearoa was
unaffected by this worldwide shortage.”
“As
Pharmac doesn’t have contact details that would enable us
to directly engage with people who might be affected by
supply issues, we rely heavily on healthcare practitioners
to share information,” said Ms Williams. We also
appreciate how busy healthcare professionals are, so we use
various channels to ensure that people have the information
they need. These include our own website updates, emails to
hospital and community pharmacies, regular meetings with our
Te Whatu Ora partners, General Practitioner (GP)
communications through the Royal New Zealand College of GPs,
articles in NZ Doctor and Pharmacy Today, media releases,
and social media.”
“Pharmac knows it can be tough,
with everyone facing disruptions due to the supply chain.
It’s especially difficult when it is unexpected, and
everyone has done all they can to mitigate the situation. We
want to reassure New Zealanders that Pharmac is working as
hard as possible to ensure everyone has access to the
medicines and devices they need to support their health and
wellbeing,” said Ms
Williams.
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