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Parents are reporting serious difficulties getting antibiotics for their sick children, amid fears of a UK-wide shortage after rising strep A infections.
While the government has maintained adequate supplies of penicillin and amoxicillin, pharmacists and GPs across the country have reported that they are struggling to access supplies.
Now parents have to visit a series of pharmacies to secure them.
Tiff Dickinson of Plymouth said she had a harrowing experience trying to get antibiotics for her 10-year-old daughter, who was diagnosed with strep A on Wednesday.
“I was surprised when I called the first pharmacy who advised me that there were no antibiotics available and they didn’t expect to have any in stock until January,” she said.
“The pharmacist advised me to try an independent pharmacy down the road. [It was the] Same story and this time also not sure if they will see the bottle of antibiotics or not. I got into the car with my poor baby and started systematically ringing every pharmacy in town.”
On the sixth attempt Dickinson managed to find a bottle of antibiotics – but the prescribed course of treatment required two. “We may have to resign ourselves to feeling lucky that we got half a course of treatment rather than none at all,” she said. “We decided to take the lowest dose that day so she would feel less horrible.”
She added: “I consider myself lucky that we actually got half the dose, but it seems like we don’t need to do those things just to get basic treatment.”
Laila, from Stockport, also had difficulties this week getting prescribed antibiotics for her twins, one of whom was very ill. She initially tried two pharmacies, both of which had no stock of amoxicillin.
“I panicked because I had to at least get treatment for the weaker twin and they could share until I found a pharmacy that was able to give me another bottle,” she said.
Unwell herself, and as evening approached, Laila began ringing around pharmacies trying to find medicine. Eventually she tracked some down – but there was only one bottle.
“I asked if I could maybe come back the next day for another bottle. She said they have no idea when they will get another delivery because there is a shortage of suppliers,” Laila said.
Meanwhile, a four-year-old girl in critical condition with Strep A is said to be improving.
Camilla Rose Burns was taken to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool on November 28 after developing an infection and was put on a ventilator.
But his grandmother, Dawn Burns, said Friday that the child is improving.
“She was on a lot of supportive drugs, ventilators, dialysis etc. But slowly and surely, she got over it,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
On Thursday, the UK Health Security Agency said 15 children under the age of 15 have died in the UK from invasive strep A infections since September.
Professor Camilla Hawthorne, chair of the Royal College of GPs, said parents who were worried about their children should not be discouraged from seeking medical help. Although better public health messaging around Strep A is needed, many GPs surgeries are finding it difficult to cope with the increase in demand on top of the current pressures.
Hawthorne called on the government to introduce overspill services to support struggling GP practices.
She added: “GPs are highly trained consultants in family medicine who are particularly vigilant in detecting severe, aggressive cases of group A streptococcal infection. Early detection and treatment is key, but it is important that we are available to patients who really need to see us, so we ask the public and the media to act responsibly while we do our best to control and treat severe cases of this infection. we do “
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