Action on medicine shortages is ‘vital’ to prevent another tragedy, the health and social care secretary has been urged.

Charities and MPs have said the death of a man with epilepsy whose pharmacy was unable to supply his medication adds urgency to their calls for a review into the issue.

David Crompton, aged 44, died following a fall on 13 December 2024, made more likely by the absence of medication, a coroner suggested last month.

And last week Labour MP for Lancaster and Wyre Cat Smith sent an open letter, supported by three epilepsy charities and 45 MPs, calling for an ‘urgent review’ of ongoing medicines shortages.

Ms Smith said the letter was written before the news of Mr Crompton’s death, but that this ‘added real urgency’ to calls for a review of the medicines supply chain.

'It is vital that the health secretary takes action now before there is another tragedy. One death is a death too many,' she added.

Her letter to the health secretary, dated 17 February, calls for an ‘urgent review’ of medicines supply chains, and warns that delays experienced by patients with epilepsy to access medication places them ‘at risk of sudden, sometimes fatal seizures’.

‘If action is not taken to properly understand the crisis we face, and explore potential solutions, it will worsen. A review into the shortage of vital medications is urgently needed,’ the letter said.

The 45 MP signatories also stressed that there are 630,000 people in the UK with epilepsy, and that they ‘all have constituents whose lives have been deeply, sometimes irreversibly, damaged by the shortage of medications they need to function and live’.

A survey by three charities involved – Epilepsy Society, Epilepsy Action, and SUDEP – as well as Parkinson’s UK, found that almost 70% of those surveyed with epilepsy or Parkinson's had experienced difficulties in getting vital medication.

More than half had to visit multiple pharmacies before getting their prescription fulfilled and 66% were only given a fraction of their medication due to limited supplies. Many said medicine shortages had caused their symptoms to worsen.

The charities also said that switching to an alternative medication was often not as effective.

In a statement issued this week, the three charities said: ‘Over the last year we have been calling on the government to commission a review of the medicines supply chain and we have warned about the potential for breakthrough seizures caused by lack of medication, to be fatal.

‘We hope the health secretary will now appreciate the urgency of addressing this situation before there is another fatality.

‘The medicines supply chain is a complex and global issue but people must be assured of their life-saving medication and we stand ready to assist in finding a solution to this ongoing issue.'

The letter is also signed by Labour MP for North Somerset and community pharmacist Sadik Al-Hassan, as well as 43 other MPs.

Last week, the Department of Health and Social Care launched a survey asking pharmacy teams how they receive and respond to medicine supply notifications, as part of efforts to improve how it communicates medicines shortages.

The government was contacted for comment