The ruptures of stock of medicines occur daily in 41,6% of National Health Service hospitals, weekly in 36,1% and monthly in 19,4%, with 2,7% not registering ruptures, reveals a study released today.
According to the National Index of Access to Hospital Medicines 2023, promoted by the Portuguese Association of Hospital Administrators (APAH), 94,4% of administrators consider ruptures to be a serious problem (77% in 2020) and 47,2% consider that they only affect medicines generics (33% in 2020).
Speaking to the Lusa agency, the president of APAH, Xavier Barreto, said that disruptions and the use of medicines based on results are “the two least positive dimensions” that contribute to the result of the Global Index of Access to Medicines for 2022 located at 58% when in 2020 it was 66% and 77% in 2018.
Hospitals report failures that have to be addressed through loans to other NHS hospitals or by using alternative drugs, a situation that “forces an overload of work for hospital pharmacies”.
According to the official, the shortages are not due to a lack of funding for hospitals, explaining that they are often due to “difficulty in the market to supply hospitals and health units in general”.
The study, which had SNS hospitals as its universe, with a response rate of 75% (45% in 2022), reveals that 81% of hospitals do not have an integrated clinical, financial and administrative data management system, which would allow carry out a cost/effectiveness analysis of health interventions.
It also points out that 67% of hospitals have proximity medication dispensing programs, and in 50% of cases medications are delivered via community pharmacy.
The document highlights the increase in the number of hospitals offering pharmaceutical consultations (39% compared to 27% in 2020) and refers to the administrative burden as “the major barrier” in the process of acquiring new medicines.
When asked about the barriers identified, 33% of hospitals stated that the process is not initiated in a timely manner (57% in 2020), 41% pointed out the administrative burden (70% in 2020) and 8% indicated the price/financing model factor (10 % in 2020).
Analyzing the study data, Xavier Barreto said that they were “negatively” surprising, considering that “there is, in fact, a reduction in access to medicine”, which is measured in six dimensions – access to innovative medicines, proximity distribution, disruptions, access to medicines based on cost/financing, use of medicines based on results and access in the pre-financing phase.
It pointed to a reduction from 87% in 2020 to 76% in 2023 of hospitals using new medicines approved prior to the financing decision.
After the financing decision, in 77% of institutions, access to the medicine occurs only after its inclusion in the National Medicines Formulary, says the study that has scientific support from the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Lisbon and support from the Order of Pharmacists and the Portuguese Association of Hospital Pharmacists.
At the Medicines Forum, the reform of European pharmaceutical legislation will be debated, among other topics.
The objectives include, among others, ensuring that all patients in the European Union have “timely and equitable access to safe, effective and affordable medicines; strengthen supply chains and make medicines more environmentally sustainable.”
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