Wicksteed Pharmacy (Whanganui) and Eliza’s Pharmacy (Waverley) pharmacist Shannon Burroughs said the shortages made filling prescriptions harder and, in some cases, more expensive.
Patients would find their medication was not available when they arrived and had to switch brands or formulations, she said.
“That doesn’t work for everyone and it’s quite hard to give everyone what they need or want, because we just don’t have the supply.”
Pharmac chief medical officer Dr David Hughes said ADHD medications varied in how they worked and affected people in different ways.
Burroughs said some patients could switch easily while others struggled with side effects.
The constant switching had made keeping track of patient records more complicated for pharmacists, Burroughs said.
“One supply of something will be out, and then something else will come back in, and then the other one will go out.”
Depending on their medical practice’s policy, patients sometimes had to pay twice for their prescription to be rewritten, even when supply issues were to blame.
“It’s been an ongoing saga.”
Unichem Whanganui pharmacist Melina Holmes said “right now is probably the best it’s been” since the shortages began.
Only one brand is currently mostly out of stock and a new brand was registered in New Zealand late last year.
Holmes said the biggest barrier to helping patients work around the shortages was Pharmac’s funding system.
“It’s a very old, antiquated system,” she said.
Funding for medications is approved by Pharmac, which gives patients funding numbers. Half of the ADHD medications available in New Zealand are on one number and the other half on another.
If a patient needs to switch between brands on separate numbers, the pharmacist must contact the prescriber, who will then apply on behalf of the patient for the other number.
“It just causes delays for the person getting their medicine,” Holmes said.
She said Pharmac tried to fix the issue at the height of the shortages by issuing both numbers to all patients but, from her experience, “that didn’t happen for everyone”.
Her pharmacy had still been dealing with patients who had only one number, she said.
Restrictive laws around ADHD medications, because of their classification as controlled drugs, also made helping patients harder, including how much can be issued at one time and short timeframes to fill prescriptions before they expire.
Demand for ADHD medications has risen globally in the past two decades.
Burroughs said in the past eight years she had seen a noticeable rise in ADHD patients in Whanganui and Waverley.
One in 20 Kiwis has ADHD, according to ADHD New Zealand.
Much of the rise is because of increasing awareness and understanding of the condition.
Until the late 2000s, it was thought to affect only children.
Modern research shows it is a lifelong condition and symptoms may change or become less obvious over time. Fewer than 20% of adults with ADHD are diagnosed and receive care, according to ADHD New Zealand.
Women and minority groups have historically been significantly under-diagnosed at all ages.
Global supply has not kept pace with the increasing demand for treatment.
From February 1, changes to New Zealand prescription laws gave more clinicians the ability to write ADHD prescriptions, aiming to improve access.
Specialist general practitioners and nurse practitioners can now write ADHD prescriptions for patients over 18.
Holmes said the law changes had been good but further improvements could be made.
Hughes said Pharmac was “actively” working to get more stock. It funded two new long-acting ADHD medications late last year.
Patients struggling to get their medications at their usual pharmacy should try other locations or contact their clinician for advice, Pharmac said.
Erin Smith is a multimedia journalist based in Whanganui.
