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PENS WHICH ARE used to combat anaphylactic shock could be made more widely available, the junior Health Minister says.
Speaking in the Dáil on Wednesday, Kathleen Lynch said that the Department of Health will hold a consultation on relaxing rules around the provision of the pens.
Epinephrine or adrenaline auto-injectors, commonly known by the brand name of EpiPen, are used in cases of major allergic reaction.
They made headlines last year when 14-year-old Emma Sloan suffered a fatal allergic reaction in Dublin city centre after accidentally eating satay sauce and her mother was unable get an Epipen from a chemist as it was not for use on her.
“Emma’s death was so avoidable,” her mother told the Oireachtas health committee.
Lynch said that the pens are only available to medical personnel or those with a prescription, but that there would be a consultation on relaxing those rules.
“Adrenaline pens, as injectable medicines, may only be supplied on foot of a valid prescription. However, there is provision in the Medicinal Products (Prescription and Control of Supply) Regulations 2003 (as amended) which permits pharmacists, advanced paramedics, paramedics and emergency medical technicians, in emergency circumstances, to supply certain prescription only medicines including adrenaline injections without a prescription,” she told the Dáil.
“My Department is currently reviewing policy in this area and will shortly carry out a consultation process on wider availability of a number of prescription only medicines used in emergency situations including adrenaline auto-injectors.
“This review will explore, among other things the use of guidelines or protocols by means of which non-health professionals may supply and administer adrenaline auto-injectors without a prescription.”
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To be honest I think they should be in every first aid box.
Better safe than sorry.
And potentially deadly adverse reactions… Heart failure, respiratory failure. A shot of adrenaline accidentally injected into a vein instead of a muscle will likely cause a brain hemorrhage.
There’s a reason it’s not generally available on supermarket shelves…
They’re about €100 and have a strict expiry date of just 20 months from manufacture date. By the time you buy one, the expiry is usually less than 18 months off. That’s pretty expensive for the ordinary family out there (I have 3 kids and I definitely won’t be getting one).
I know they’re expensive but in say a childcare setting you receive the training on how to administer the drug anyway. We had one girl who had to carry it at all times and I dread to think what would happen if that pen failed.
We never had this when I was a child and 8/10 of us did just fine without it. The other 2 are Man Utd fans.
You would need a shot of adrenaline to sit thru 90 mins of Man Utd (and stay awake)
My daughter has always had to carry 2 pens with her for this reason and in case she needs a second dose
People who require medication like this should take more responsibility to make sure they have there medication and that the food or drinks they order are free from allergens.
WTF ?
20 months!?! I wish… More like 12 months!
Typical Ireland,takes an avoidable death to look at relaxing the “rules”,I still to this day can’t understand why that young girls life was lost due to bureaucracy, if I worked in that chemist I’d have given her mother two epi pens just in case one didn’t work
You can’t blame the pharmacist for following the rules, if that girl wasn’t in anaphylactic shock and the pharmacist gave adrenaline which was administered for the wrong reasons, she would have more then likely died from heart failure. That’s like blaming the young girl for not carrying her pen, It was a tragedy and something that can happen so easily, it was no ones fault directly. As part of first aid courses people should be taught how to use them along with them being more widely available.
An avoidable tragedy, the pharmacist had the cure but didn’t administrator it because of bureaucracy, either way a young girl is dead and it shouldn’t have been allowed to happen, the pharmacist should have done the right thing instead of selfishly thinking of themselves and there business,common sense should have prevailed,the mother was going to administer it as she knew how,so all the pharmacy person had to do was hand it over,so in my opinion the pharmacist is culpable
TrickyTrixster, do you know what happened that day in the pharmacy and what exactly was said and presented to the pharmacist???
Outright condemnation of the pharmacist us wrong unless you have the full facts.
Also the ambulance was rang only when the girl collapsed by other bystanders, the mother stated she was making her way to the hospital on foot with her daughter.
If they had called the ambulance things could have been very different tragically
They did call the ambulance Kev..!
They called an ambulance, but the rate of her attack was progressing so quickly they couldnt wait, the chemist shouldve gone with the mother to administer the drug to the girl if she had any doubt about who the epipen was for.
I have some interesting inside info on the deployment of the ambulance
Four years ago a friend of mine who was staying with me got stung on the lip by a wasp,He came running back into the house to wash his face.
Within 5 mins his face started to swell,I knew by looking at him that he had an anaphylaxis attack.
So I drove him down to the A&E were he was seen to straight away and kept in over night for observation,I remember him getting a prescription for the Epi pens think it was for €150.
He went home to the north and got them for little or nothing via the NHS,Epinephrine does not have any contra indications unlike Aspirin so it could possibly be administered by a person trained.
I’m sure parents who have kids with anaphylaxis know how to administer the drug.
What’s frightening is the number of people who assume that because you’re badly allergic to something that you will automatically carry/use an epipen – scarey to hear of the radical side effects if used wrongly – surely all with life threatening allergies would carry one or their proof of prescription.
Helen, I carry one, infect I have 2. One for home & with me @ all times. I’ve been hospitalised many times for serious reactions. We now know most of my allergies but some we don’t. The pen itself is not always an easy thing to carry especially if your are undertaking any kind outdoor activity even just walking the dog. Therefore, I wear an allergy bracelet all time but unfortunately most people aren’t aware to check for these. So it’s not as easy as you might think.
Eh, if they have a serious allergy they should carry their medication. It’s irresponsible not to. I have athsma and carry a ventolin inhaler in my pocket. And that’s not as serious as what that girl died from – but I do it anyway because it’s common sense. Why do people want to blame others for their own ineptitude?
We do carry two!
I read that and thought it said epipenis…
Can I ask: WTF to Chemists add to the process other than being the most militant trade union in history ?
Kevins epipenis causes woman to have allergic reactions
When I read it first I thought it read EPIPENIS!
Hope that when it is launched ,the public will have access to some form of locations app
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