this post was submitted on 01 Oct 2023
72 points (97.4% liked)

News

23287 readers
4563 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

Doctors in England have been told not to prescribe ADHD drugs to new patients because of a national shortage, as charities warn that the supply problems are devastating for people living with the condition.

A national patient safety alert from the Department of Health and Social Care said the shortages were down to a combination of manufacturing issues and increased global demand, and could last until the end of the year.

ADHD, which stands for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, is described by the NHS as a condition that can make it hard to concentrate and may mean people act on impulse.

Prescriptions for ADHD have been rising in recent years. Figures for April to June 2023 show that about 202,000 individuals in England received one, up from 103,000 in the same period in 2018-19.

With about 2.2 million people in England thought to have ADHD, experts say the condition is under-diagnosed and under-treated.

Now prescribers have been told not to start new patients on medications affected by the shortages until the supply issues have been resolved.

The medications affected include methylphenidate prolonged-release capsules and tablets, lisdexamfetamine capsules, and guanfacine prolonged-release tablets.

“Other ADHD products remain available but cannot meet excessive increases in demand,” the DHSC alert states. “At present, the supply disruptions are expected to resolve at various dates between October and December 2023.”

Advice has also been given that healthcare professionals should identify all patients currently prescribed these products, check how much supply they have remaining and contact various dispensing pharmacy services or the patient’s specialist team for advice should their supplies be running low.

Henry Shelford, the CEO and a co-founder of ADHD UK, said: “ADHD is a disability and the sudden removal of medication is akin to removing a wheelchair from a disabled person that needs it. The NHS should have realised that this was happening and had a plan in place. Instead, people are only finding out when their pharmacy can’t supply. They’ve been left stranded with no support. It is an abject failure, but sadly this lack of care is something we’ve come to expect with our stigmatised condition.”

Shelford criticised the DHSC advice. “The Department of Health and Social Care sticking-plaster memo with the suggestion that GPs ‘reach out to a patient’s specialist team’ is laughable,” he said, adding that patients often waited years to meet the medication team.

“Medication is carefully given with dosage and type worked out over months. The idea it can be chopped and changed is wrong. The idea that specialist teams have the capacity to do medication reviews in this quantity is wrong,” he said.

“This is devastating for individuals across the country and will be life-changing for some. People with ADHD are being let down by the NHS. This is just the latest way in which we are being failed.”

Sheldon said the situation was also of concern for those hoping to start treatment for ADHD. “It’s going to be devastating for those diagnosed [who are] waiting to receive medication now knowing they have to wait even longer,” he said.

The current shortages are not the first to affect ADHD drugs this year. The DHSC previously warned of a shortage of atomoxetine capsules, a situation that is not expected to be resolved until next month.

Dr Andrew Hill, a senior visiting research fellow in the department of pharmacology and therapeutics at the University of Liverpool, said the problem lay in how medicines were sourced.

“The NHS often depends on only one or two foreign suppliers for key medicines. If these factories fail to supply, there is a high risk of shortages,” he said. “We had many problems during Covid when drug production was suspended in China and India. Last year there was a major shortage of amoxicillin to treat respiratory infections.”

He said a new approach was needed. “The European Union is passing new laws to safeguard supplies of critical medicines. Manufacturers need to send alerts if their supplies are at risk. It is time for the UK to do the same.”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We are aware of supply issues affecting medicines used for the management of ADHD due to increased global demand, and we have issued communications to the NHS to advise healthcare professionals on management of patients during this time.

“We continue to work closely with the respective manufacturers to resolve the issues as soon as possible and to ensure patients have continuous access to ADHD medicines in the UK.”

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] TheBiscuitLout@lemmy.world 21 points 1 year ago

Absolutely fucking brilliant. Not only is the waiting list for diagnosis four bloody years long, you won’t get any treatment at the other end of it. Just shoot me, dangling the carrot of help with no ability to provide it is worse than not offering it at all