Woman has 120-mile round trip to get epilepsy drug

Hannah Hiles has controlled her condition with the drug Tegretol for 25 years

A woman said she was forced on a 120-mile round trip to get hold of vital medicine because of a national shortage.

Hannah Hiles, of Staffordshire, has epilepsy and has taken the drug Tegretol for 25 years to control the condition.

Mrs Hiles, from Newcastle-under-Lyme who has not had a seizure since starting to take the drug, was only able to find it at a London pharmacy.

The Department of Health and Social Care said it had taken swift action to improve supplies and was working with healthcare providers to ensure patients get the treatment they needed.

The BBC understands there are also shortages in medication for ADHD, diabetes and HRT and cancer.

Aunt obtained drug

Mrs Hiles, a 44-year-old PR manager for a charity, said she became aware of shortages in January and started to closely monitor her local pharmacy for when stocks came back in.

She asked family in other parts of the country to do the same, and eventually found a box of the medication in London.

She phoned the pharmacy, got her GP to email her prescription, and asked her aunt to collect the box for her.

She then drove more than 60 miles to Coventry, while her aunt drove up from London to meet her.

“I’ve lived a completely normal, standard life for 25 years. I don’t even think about it on a day-to-day basis,” Mrs Hiles said.

Mrs Hiles eventually sourced the drug at a pharmacy in London

“I’ve never taken any other type of epilepsy medication, this is all I’ve ever known," she said.

“Knowing there was a shortage of the type that I take was extremely worrying.”

It’s thought the shortages are due to a combination of supply issues and difficulties getting hold of the ingredients for the drug.

'Very worrying'

Charity Epilepsy Action, which has been supporting people, said it had received five times as many calls about medication stocks compared with a year ago.

Deputy chief executive Rebekah Smith said: “It has been very worrying to hear about availability and stock issues affecting some epilepsy medicines for the past few months, with Tegretol being one of the key concerns recently.”

She added: “We have heard of many people struggling to get the medication they needed and having to travel long distances to find a pharmacy which had it in stock.”

The charity said it would continue to monitor the situation.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “Our priority is to ensure patients continue to get the treatments they need, which is why we are working with industry, the NHS and others to further improve the supply of other epilepsy medications as quickly as possible.

“Medicine supply issues do not only affect the UK, and we have a range of well-established processes and tools to manage them when they do occur.”