Pharmacists are calling for fresh powers to provide patients with alternative prescriptions as they warned that drugs shortages are hampering their ability to tackle whooping cough.
More than 2,700 cases have been reported across England so far in 2024 – more than three times the number recorded in the whole of last year.
But some pharmacies have been forced to turn away families seeking help for their children because they have run out of clarithromycin, a key antibiotic used to treat the condition.
It means parents are having to shop around for prescriptions from other pharmacies or go back to their GP and ask for a different antibiotic, leading to potentially dangerous delays.
Leyla Hannbeck, the chief executive of the Independent Pharmacies Association, said a rule change was needed to allow pharmacists to make substitutions for alternative antibiotics so that children could start treatment immediately.
“We’ve seen one of the key antibiotics for treating whooping cough, clarithromycin, become unavailable in some areas,” said Hannbeck. “We’re having to turn patients away and send them back to their GP to get their prescription changed.”
The Department of Health and Social Care said it was not aware of any supply shortages of antibiotics for whooping cough. It has insisted that antibiotics to treat the condition are available across the country for those in need.
Hannbeck said the government was in “denial” about the problem. Part of the reason the wider drugs shortage crisis existed, she said, was because ministers were refusing to accept that a crisis was unfolding.
Five babies in England died between January and the end of March after being diagnosed with whooping cough.
“With whooping cough, it needs treatment as soon as possible,” Hannbeck said. “Any delay will also put others at risk.
“Pharmacists could provide alternative antibiotics so that children can start treatment and parents do not have to go from pillar to post to get the medicine but we can’t do that because the current rules do not allow us to do that. That needs to change.”
Whooping cough can be called the “100-day cough” because of how long it can take to recover from, and it spreads very easily.
There were 2,793 cases reported to the end of March, according to the UK Health Security Agency. That compared with 858 cases for the whole of 2023.
In March alone, 1,319 cases were reported. There were 556 cases recorded in January and 918 in February.
The bacterial infection, also known as pertussis, affects the lungs and breathing tubes. The first signs of whooping cough are similar to a cold, such as a runny nose and sore throat, but after about a week the infection can develop into coughing bouts that last for a few minutes and are typically worse at night.
Young babies may also make a distinctive “whoop” or have difficulty breathing after a bout of coughing, though not all babies make this noise, which means whooping cough can be hard to recognise.
