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Al final la borregada va a acabar sospechando de las élites un poquito. No mucho, pero un poquito van a pensar que aquí pasa algo raro.
Da igual, si tienen que morir ellos y sus hijos morirán obedeciendo a los masones satanistas comunistas y lo que surja.
www.thetimes.co.uk
Da igual, si tienen que morir ellos y sus hijos morirán obedeciendo a los masones satanistas comunistas y lo que surja.
Prices soar for antibiotics as desperate parents search for strep A medicine
Drug companies have been accused of “cartel behaviour” for increasing the costs of antibiotics during the strep A outbreak in England.Pharmacies say they are l
www.thetimes.co.uk
Drug companies have been accused of “cartel behaviour” for increasing the costs of antibiotics during the strep A outbreak in England.
Pharmacies say they are losing thousands of pounds a week on the cost of the drugs as they can only recoup a fraction from the NHS. Many are unable even to purchase stocks, leaving parents to travel across cities in search of medicine for sick children.
Demand for antibiotics such as amoxicillin and penicillin has soared due to an unseasonal surge in the bacterial infection which triggered fatal sepsis in 16 children so far.
Quoted prices shared by pharmacists from across the country show costs increasing sharply in recent days.
Both antibiotics are usually available to chemists for a few pounds for capsules and between £3 and £4 for oral mixtures for children. They are then reimbursed for most of this by the NHS, which sets a tariff for individual drugs each month.
But prices being quoted by wholesalers last week included £15.37 for capsules from Alliance Healthcare and £10.67 for a penicillin oral solution from Accord Healthcare. Another firm, AAH, was charging £15 for amoxicillin capsules.
One company, Sigma pharmaceuticals, has apologised after complaints that it was charging more than £19 for an amoxicillin solution. The company said the prices were a technical error and no customers would be charged the higher amount.
Some firms have blamed the price increases on higher charges from manufacturers as a result of the spike in demand.
The NHS pays pharmacists set prices for drugs they prescribe which is worked out every month in a set tariff. When shortages that increase prices are reported, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) introduces what is called a concessionary price, which means pharmacists are later reimbursed at that new level, but this does not always cover their costs.
Shortages of drugs have been a growing concern for pharmacies with more than 100 concession prices being agreed in some months this year.
Dervis Gurol, who runs the Healthy-U Pharmacy in Saltdean, near Brighton, described the prices as “extortion” after he was charged £11 for a penicillin mixture for which he expects he will get just over £2 from the NHS.
He said: “We don’t have any alternative, my loss this week just on antibiotics is over £3,000. The wholesalers don’t justify anything and I do think some are taking advantage of the situation. Some wholesalers were charging £11.78 for a bottle and we get reimbursed at £2.08.
“Most of us are in a situation where we’re using our own money to operate and trying to absorb these costs that should be absorbed by the NHS. The Department of Health is refusing to do anything about the wholesalers.”
Arun Jangra, who has run the Merlin Pharmacy in Kent for 20 years, said it was taking him hours every day to source medications. He said some wholesalers were “holding us to ransom” adding he was quoted prices of more than £7 for a packet of antibiotics.
“A lot of companies are taking advantage,” he said, adding: “At times like this the government does not help and actually make things worse by telling people there’s no shortage.”
He was forced to call police last week after a patient demanded two bottles of antibiotics that Jangra could not supply. The man told him: “I know there are loads of antibiotics because the government has said so on the radio.”
Ministers have insisted that there is no shortage of the drugs.
For many pharmacists who have patients with prescriptions they feel they have no choice but to pay what they can. Tas Bhatti, from the Midnight Pharmacy in Nottingham, paid £9.90 for an oral mix of amoxicillin on Thursday.
“I bought some at that price because I didn’t have a choice, I had a patient who needed it and that was the only supplier with any stock available,” he said. “They are holding the NHS to ransom and it feels like orchestrated behaviour to me, it’s cartel behaviour. The Competition and Markets Authority needs to take a look at this.”
He said if it continued patients would lose out. Parents are already telling of desperate attempts to fill their children’s prescription, dashing around numerous pharmacies to track down drugs.
Bristol MP Darren Jones said he and his wife had to visit eight pharmacies in Bristol and London on Wednesday to secure antibiotics for his children after an urgent prescription. He was able to get half of what they needed and was told there was a widespread shortage. Cath Beard, 42, from Birmingham, said she and her husband spent three days trying to source penicillin for her nine-year-old child.
Tohidul Islam, a pharmacist in Manchester said: “Most pharmacy owners are paying £10-£20 a bottle. Prices have skyrocketed recently. If the stock is there as the government suggests then there’s clear market manipulation.”
Dr Leyla Hannbeck, chief executive of the Association of Independent Multiple Pharmacies, which represents around 4,000 pharmacies, said many were struggling to source medicines.
She said: “Pharmacies across the country are reporting that they are struggling to get stock. There were some price hikes on Thursday but there was a big backlash and the wholesalers reduced their prices. The problem that we have at the moment is that the supply is just not there so you can’t order it.
“When the antibiotics have become available they are still at higher prices.”
The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee, which agrees prices with the DHSC, said it had seen reports of prices increasing between two-fold and 10-fold in the past week.
Chief executive Janet Morrison said: “Unfortunately the current issues with antibiotics are just the tip of the iceberg for pharmacies: this month we expect to see more medicines than ever on our ‘concessions list’ which indicates pricing issues. And we are still hearing from thousands of pharmacies every month who are having problems buying hundreds of different medicines at affordable prices. It is chaotic.”
Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said: “The government must investigate companies using children’s deaths to profiteer, and ensure the supplies are available to those who need them.
“Despite the Prime Minister’s assurance that there are no shortages, some parents are having to go from pharmacy to pharmacy to find the antibiotics they need. Rishi Sunak should be honest with the public and get a grip on this.”
Drug companies have blamed the war in Ukraine and subsequent global surge in energy costs for increasing costs.
Martin Sawer, executive director at the Healthcare Distribution Association, which represents 90 per cent of the companies supplying drugs to the NHS, said the relaxed rules on prescribing antibiotics had not been planned for and triggered a “shock” to the system.
NHS England has told GPs to have a low threshold when they consider prescribing the drugs to children ***owing the Strep A outbreak. The bacteria can trigger scarlet fever and strep throat and occasionally develop rare bloodstream sepsis infections. There were 851 cases of scarlet fever reported from November 14 to 20, compared to an average of 186 for the same timeframe in previous years.
Sawer said: “No one’s making excess money out of this because we’re being charged more. We have to pass on the prices to pharmacies because that’s the only way we can afford to supply them. Pricing will reflect the prices that are charged by the manufacturers. The increased price starts higher up the supply chain.”
Steve Barclay, the health secretary, said there was no overall shortage of antibiotics this week but problems with the medicines reaching pharmacies.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “There is no supplier shortage of antibiotics available to treat Strep A. We are working urgently with manufacturers and wholesalers to explore what can be done to expedite deliveries and bring forward stock they have to help ensure it gets to where it’s needed, to meet demand as quickly as possible and support access to these vital medicines.”
They added: “Prices of generic medicines can fluctuate but no-one should use this as an opportunity to exploit the NHS.
“Where companies are found to be abusing their dominant position by charging excessive and unfair prices, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) can take action against businesses and individuals engaged in anti-competitive conduct.”
Pharmacies say they are losing thousands of pounds a week on the cost of the drugs as they can only recoup a fraction from the NHS. Many are unable even to purchase stocks, leaving parents to travel across cities in search of medicine for sick children.
Demand for antibiotics such as amoxicillin and penicillin has soared due to an unseasonal surge in the bacterial infection which triggered fatal sepsis in 16 children so far.
Quoted prices shared by pharmacists from across the country show costs increasing sharply in recent days.
Both antibiotics are usually available to chemists for a few pounds for capsules and between £3 and £4 for oral mixtures for children. They are then reimbursed for most of this by the NHS, which sets a tariff for individual drugs each month.
But prices being quoted by wholesalers last week included £15.37 for capsules from Alliance Healthcare and £10.67 for a penicillin oral solution from Accord Healthcare. Another firm, AAH, was charging £15 for amoxicillin capsules.
One company, Sigma pharmaceuticals, has apologised after complaints that it was charging more than £19 for an amoxicillin solution. The company said the prices were a technical error and no customers would be charged the higher amount.
Some firms have blamed the price increases on higher charges from manufacturers as a result of the spike in demand.
The NHS pays pharmacists set prices for drugs they prescribe which is worked out every month in a set tariff. When shortages that increase prices are reported, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) introduces what is called a concessionary price, which means pharmacists are later reimbursed at that new level, but this does not always cover their costs.
Shortages of drugs have been a growing concern for pharmacies with more than 100 concession prices being agreed in some months this year.
Dervis Gurol, who runs the Healthy-U Pharmacy in Saltdean, near Brighton, described the prices as “extortion” after he was charged £11 for a penicillin mixture for which he expects he will get just over £2 from the NHS.
He said: “We don’t have any alternative, my loss this week just on antibiotics is over £3,000. The wholesalers don’t justify anything and I do think some are taking advantage of the situation. Some wholesalers were charging £11.78 for a bottle and we get reimbursed at £2.08.
“Most of us are in a situation where we’re using our own money to operate and trying to absorb these costs that should be absorbed by the NHS. The Department of Health is refusing to do anything about the wholesalers.”
Arun Jangra, who has run the Merlin Pharmacy in Kent for 20 years, said it was taking him hours every day to source medications. He said some wholesalers were “holding us to ransom” adding he was quoted prices of more than £7 for a packet of antibiotics.
“A lot of companies are taking advantage,” he said, adding: “At times like this the government does not help and actually make things worse by telling people there’s no shortage.”
He was forced to call police last week after a patient demanded two bottles of antibiotics that Jangra could not supply. The man told him: “I know there are loads of antibiotics because the government has said so on the radio.”
Ministers have insisted that there is no shortage of the drugs.
For many pharmacists who have patients with prescriptions they feel they have no choice but to pay what they can. Tas Bhatti, from the Midnight Pharmacy in Nottingham, paid £9.90 for an oral mix of amoxicillin on Thursday.
“I bought some at that price because I didn’t have a choice, I had a patient who needed it and that was the only supplier with any stock available,” he said. “They are holding the NHS to ransom and it feels like orchestrated behaviour to me, it’s cartel behaviour. The Competition and Markets Authority needs to take a look at this.”
He said if it continued patients would lose out. Parents are already telling of desperate attempts to fill their children’s prescription, dashing around numerous pharmacies to track down drugs.
Bristol MP Darren Jones said he and his wife had to visit eight pharmacies in Bristol and London on Wednesday to secure antibiotics for his children after an urgent prescription. He was able to get half of what they needed and was told there was a widespread shortage. Cath Beard, 42, from Birmingham, said she and her husband spent three days trying to source penicillin for her nine-year-old child.
Tohidul Islam, a pharmacist in Manchester said: “Most pharmacy owners are paying £10-£20 a bottle. Prices have skyrocketed recently. If the stock is there as the government suggests then there’s clear market manipulation.”
Dr Leyla Hannbeck, chief executive of the Association of Independent Multiple Pharmacies, which represents around 4,000 pharmacies, said many were struggling to source medicines.
She said: “Pharmacies across the country are reporting that they are struggling to get stock. There were some price hikes on Thursday but there was a big backlash and the wholesalers reduced their prices. The problem that we have at the moment is that the supply is just not there so you can’t order it.
“When the antibiotics have become available they are still at higher prices.”
The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee, which agrees prices with the DHSC, said it had seen reports of prices increasing between two-fold and 10-fold in the past week.
Chief executive Janet Morrison said: “Unfortunately the current issues with antibiotics are just the tip of the iceberg for pharmacies: this month we expect to see more medicines than ever on our ‘concessions list’ which indicates pricing issues. And we are still hearing from thousands of pharmacies every month who are having problems buying hundreds of different medicines at affordable prices. It is chaotic.”
Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said: “The government must investigate companies using children’s deaths to profiteer, and ensure the supplies are available to those who need them.
“Despite the Prime Minister’s assurance that there are no shortages, some parents are having to go from pharmacy to pharmacy to find the antibiotics they need. Rishi Sunak should be honest with the public and get a grip on this.”
Drug companies have blamed the war in Ukraine and subsequent global surge in energy costs for increasing costs.
Martin Sawer, executive director at the Healthcare Distribution Association, which represents 90 per cent of the companies supplying drugs to the NHS, said the relaxed rules on prescribing antibiotics had not been planned for and triggered a “shock” to the system.
NHS England has told GPs to have a low threshold when they consider prescribing the drugs to children ***owing the Strep A outbreak. The bacteria can trigger scarlet fever and strep throat and occasionally develop rare bloodstream sepsis infections. There were 851 cases of scarlet fever reported from November 14 to 20, compared to an average of 186 for the same timeframe in previous years.
Sawer said: “No one’s making excess money out of this because we’re being charged more. We have to pass on the prices to pharmacies because that’s the only way we can afford to supply them. Pricing will reflect the prices that are charged by the manufacturers. The increased price starts higher up the supply chain.”
Steve Barclay, the health secretary, said there was no overall shortage of antibiotics this week but problems with the medicines reaching pharmacies.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “There is no supplier shortage of antibiotics available to treat Strep A. We are working urgently with manufacturers and wholesalers to explore what can be done to expedite deliveries and bring forward stock they have to help ensure it gets to where it’s needed, to meet demand as quickly as possible and support access to these vital medicines.”
They added: “Prices of generic medicines can fluctuate but no-one should use this as an opportunity to exploit the NHS.
“Where companies are found to be abusing their dominant position by charging excessive and unfair prices, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) can take action against businesses and individuals engaged in anti-competitive conduct.”
