I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. An information campaign is a very good idea and is one I would welcome, and I will talk to the Minister in respect of that.

Medicine shortages are, unfortunately, a feature of modern health systems worldwide and are a global health problem now. However the medicines regulator here, the HPRA, has said that while individual brands or strengths of a medication may be temporarily unavailable, for the vast majority of medicines there are appropriate substitutions such as different strengths, brands or similar classes of medicines available. For example, while one strength of a particular medicine may be in short supply, there can be dozens of other strengths of the exact same medicine available. Some of these products may be generically interchanged, often without the need for the involvement of a GP or prescriber. In most cases patients can still access the medicines they need. We have a medicines shortage framework in place which is operated by the HPRA. I will come back to the Deputy on the matter of a public information campaign.

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