'Pharmacists struggling to obtain most common cold and flu medicine'

Leyla Hannbeck, chief executive of the Association of Independent Multiple Pharmacies has said pharmacists have been "struggling to obtain the very basic, most common cold and flu medicine."

She told the PA news agency that the shortage wasn't around "just the branded medicines" but "also simple things like throat lozenges, cough mixtures or pain killers - particularly the ones that are soluble."

Stating that the sector was finding it very difficult these shortages she said "those people who are in charge of supporting us with it are denying it."

"The demand has been high because this season we've seen higher cases of colds and flu and people are obviously trying very hard to look after themselves and making sure that they use the relevant products to manage the symptoms.

"And that has led to a shortage of these products in terms of us not being able to obtain them."

In a tweet posted on Tuesday, Dr Hannbeck showed a photo of depleting stocks of medicines for common cold and flu in a pharmacy amid rising demand and supply chain issues.

Dr Hannbeck said the ongoing shortage of vital medicine was "part of a bigger issue – from HRT to antibiotics to this, we are constantly finding ourselves in a situation when as soon as the demand for something goes up we are struggling with the supply."

She blamed the shortage on the officials at Department of Health and Social Care, especially their inability to foresee the problems.