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  "path": "/health/blood-pressure-drug-shortage-one-month-limit",
  "publishedAt": "2026-05-02T08:41:45.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.gbnews.com",
  "tags": [
    "How to live longer: Doctor warns 3 habits secretly 'accelerate ageing'",
    "Emergency doctor warns of overdose risk from common supplement",
    "Fatty liver disease: How you cook red meat may matter more than how much you eat",
    "The GB News Editorial Charter"
  ],
  "textContent": "\n\n\nPharmacists across Britain are now rationing a crucial blood pressure medication after the Government issued a serious shortage notice for ramipril.\n\nPatients requiring the 1.25mg capsules will be limited to just one month's supply at a time under the new restrictions.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nThe drug, which helps the heart pump blood more efficiently by relaxing blood vessels, ranks among the five most frequently dispensed medications in England.\n\nNHS figures reveal pharmacies handed out ramipril more than 35 million times last year alone.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nTRENDING\n\nStories\n\nVideos\n\nYour Say\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nCosts have surged dramatically in recent weeks wherever stock remains available, adding further pressure to an already strained supply chain.\n\nOlivier Picard, chair of the National Pharmacy Association, voiced alarm at the developing crisis, telling Sun Health: \"We are concerned by this recent shortage, with a number of pharmacies being unable to order some strengths of Ramipril as well as seeing the cost soar in recent weeks, in instances where stock can be found.\"\n\nHe stressed that millions of patients depend on the medication daily.\n\n\"Pharmacies are increasingly facing supply problems affecting everyday medicines on which millions rely every day,\" Mr Picard added.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nWhile alternative treatments exist, he cautioned that the Government must carefully manage these supplies to meet any surge in demand.\n\nThe crisis extends far beyond a single medication, with health experts cautioning that the NHS could exhaust supplies of common prescription drugs and vital cancer treatments as early as June unless the Middle East conflict is resolved.\n\nPharmacy leaders and medicines wholesalers report that several manufacturers are \"receiving only around a quarter of their usual volumes due to the conflict in Iran\".\n\nNHS England chief executive Sir Jim Mackey warned at the end of March that the health service faces potential shortages of medicines alongside critical supplies such as syringes and gloves.\n\n### LATEST DEVELOPMENTS\n\n\n\n\n  * How to live longer: Doctor warns 3 habits secretly 'accelerate ageing'\n  * Emergency doctor warns of overdose risk from common supplement\n  * Fatty liver disease: How you cook red meat may matter more than how much you eat\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nDr Leyla Hannbeck, CEO of the Independent Pharmacies Association, told Sun Health: \"The closure of the Strait of Hormuz is going to make this worse over the coming weeks.\"\n\nA House of Lords committee report published in February concluded that medicine shortages in Britain constitute a national security matter deserving greater priority from policymakers.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nMr Picard highlighted that \"fragility in the global supply chain is worsened by international instability and the fact that long-term underfunding of pharmacies has driven down the price for medicines in the UK to unsustainable levels\".\n\nThe stakes could hardly be higher, with an estimated 14 million adults across the country now living with high blood pressure.\n\nThe condition, which often presents no symptoms until serious damage occurs, significantly increases the risk of heart attacks, strokes, kidney failure and dementia.\n\n**Our Standards: The GB News Editorial Charter**",
  "title": "Shortage of key blood pressure drug triggers one-month prescription limit for UK patients"
}