People can ask pharmacies for ‘emergency supply’ of medication

People in the UK can request an emergency supply of medicines from a pharmacy, according to the British National Formulary (BNF), a pharmaceutical reference book from British publisher of medical journals BMJ.

According to the publication, The Human Medicines Regulations 2012 allows for people to make a request for an emergency supply of their medication without a prescription.

This is if:

• there is “immediate need” for the medication and it is not possible in the circumstances to get a prescription “without undue delay”
• the person has previously been prescribed this treatment, and
• the dose is appropriate for the person

In a piece about the death of Charlie Marriage, his sister and special investigations editor at the Financial Times (FT), Madison Marriage, said her brother and her family had not been made aware of this by any health professionals they spoke to while trying to access epilepsy medication for Charlie in the hours before he died.

Charlie died from sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP) on 26 June 2021. He had tried unsuccessfully to get an emergency prescription for his epilepsy medication Fycompa (perampanel) in the hours before his death, including calling his GP and NHS 111.

An inquest into his death found “a significant number of failings” and “many missed opportunities” from health services contributed to his death.

Madison wrote in the FT piece that the information that they could have requested an emergency medication supply from any pharmacy was “one of the most difficult things we discovered during the inquest”.

Madison spoke on Radio 4’s Today programme on 24 February, raising awareness of the right to request an emergency supply of prescription medication from a pharmacist. She said: “Had we known about that on that day in June, Charlie would still be here. My mum would have driven him to every pharmacist in London to find one that had the emergency supply of Fycompa that day.”

Charlie’s mum, Henrietta Hastings, is now launching a campaign to raise awareness with the public and with pharmacists about these rights. She is creating ‘Charlie cards’, which are still in development, for people who need one to carry with them to help them make a request in an emergency.

In her piece in FT, Madison also noted that the way that priority levels were set around the urgency of Charlie’s case by different call handlers he was in touch with failed to capture the way that seizures happen.

She said that call handlers asked him to get back in touch if his symptoms got any worse, which doesn’t capture the nature of seizures, which happen out of the blue for many people with epilepsy.

Epilepsy Action has previously shared tips to help make sure you don’t end up running out of your vital epilepsy medication.

You can also call, email or Live Chat to the Epilepsy Action helpline with any questions or concerns.