Strep A antibiotic demand leaves Barry pharmacy struggling

Nikesh Patel, superintendent of St Brides pharmacy on Ramsey Road, Barry, says there has been a huge surge in demand for antibiotics at his stores.

It comes as concerns over streptococcus A exploded after eight children have reportedly died of the bacterial infection since September. Those cases included tragedy in Penarth when Hanna Roach, of Victoria Primary School, died just a few weeks ago.

Now there are fears the UK will run out of antibiotics, particularly penicillin, which is used to fight the infection.

These fears were raised when Pharmacy director Zeshan Rehmani described the UK government’s Department of Health as "out of touch” over plans to give antibiotics to schools, saying there are no drugs.

Mr Patel said, with the panic at the moment, his team has seen a surge in the number of cases being presented to GPs and needing a prescription.

“We would expect this in a whole month and it is being prescribed in a matter of days,” said Mr Patel when asked how many antibiotic prescriptions he’d recently had to deliver.

Mr Patel said his pharmacy is at the point where they are rationing antibiotics in order to recover stock levels.

Another pharmacist, who didn’t want to be named, said her pharmacy was really struggling to deliver, especially liquid form antibiotics, and urged people to follow government advice and to be sensible.

Mr Patel echoed this sentiment saying it was a parent’s judgement call whether their child really needed antibiotics for the infection.

“Ask yourself would you usually go see the doctor for this or would you let the child ride it out,” said Mr Patel. “Just be aware and keep a close eye on the symptoms.”

Hanna Roach, of Victoria Primary School, Penarth, died of the infection aged just 7 (Image: Newsquest)

St Brides pharmacy on Barry Road has struggled to meet demand for antibiotics in the wake of strep A (Image: Google Maps)

Today, December 7, the Welsh Government were forced to issue a statement after concerns about the infection and the amount of drugs to fight it continued to grow.

The government admitted they were working to replenish stocks of antibiotics, with a spokesperson saying they were ‘confident suppliers were working to address supply issues’.

“We are working with the UK Government medicines supply team and other partners to make sure pharmacies in Wales have the supplies they need,” said the statement.

“We are confident suppliers are working to address any supply issues, should people have difficulty in obtaining their prescription they may need to visit a different pharmacy or in some cases ask their GP to prescribe an alternative treatment.”