Doctors have been told to ration a lifesaving drug used in treating serious cases of asthma, emphysema and bronchitis.
A UK-wide shortage of the liquid form of salbutamol, used to keep patients who cannot breathe without medical intervention alive, has hit NHS hospitals.
The medication, delivered as a fine spray through a special medical mask called a nebulisers, relaxes muscles involved in breathing reopening a patient’s airway.
Officials from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England issued a ‘safety critical’ national alert issued on 26 February that 2.5mg and 5mg dose vials of salbutamol liquid are in short supply.
Shortages are expected to last until mid-April 2024, according to the notification.
Shortages of the liquid form of salbutamol are expected to last until mid-April 2024, according to the safety alert (stock image)
Hospitals have been told to ‘place urgent orders for unlicensed imports of salbutamol nebuliser liquid’ and to not ‘wait for supplies to be exhausted’ before ordering more.
The alert also urged medics to ‘wean all patients off nebulisers as soon as their condition has stabilised’.
One specialist lung medic who regularly dishes out the drug to patients who need it to breath told The Guardian that the situation was worrying.
‘This is a life-saving drug that is the bread-and-butter medicine we use when patients with serious breathing problems are acutely unwell,’ they said.
The unnamed doctor added they have been told by bosses to use the drug ‘sparingly’ and only when essential.
Supply issues of the lifesaving drug have been caused by a combination of manufacturing issues and medical systems scrambling for remaining stock, the alert said.
Other drugs that work in a similar way remain available but officials warned these supplies cannot keep pace with increased in demand, the alert added.
Salbutamol is a reliever medicine used to open a patient’s airways and calming inflammation in the short term, according to charity Asthma and Lung UK.
Only the liquid version of the medication, sold under the the brand name Ventolin and used in nebulisers, is impacted by the shortage.
Salbutamol inhalers, which are usually blue coloured, and used by patients with lung conditions such as asthma to use if they get short of breath are unaffected.
The charity Asthma and Lung UK reassured users of the salbutamol nebuliser liquid on its website that there are alternatives available for patients.
Only the liquid version of the medication, sold under the the brand name Ventolin and used in nebulisers is impacted by the shortage
Salbutamol is a reliever medicine that opens up your airways and calms inflammation in the short term, according to the charity Asthma and Lung UK
It said: ‘Nebuliser liquid from other countries that have similar high standards of licensing to the UK will also be made available.’
Medicine shortages were said to be putting lives at risk earlier this year as data showed 106 commonly taken drugs were out of stock across the UK, in January.
Over the past two years, supply problems have hit crucial antibiotics and hormone replacement therapy (HRT) drugs, as well as type 2 diabetes, cancer medicines and a treatment for controlling epileptic seizures.
Experts warned supply problems are forcing some patients to switch to other brands and, in extreme cases, leaving cancer patients without medicines needed to control the spread of their disease.
