Endocrine Abstracts

In January 2023 a Medicines Supply Notification (MSN) was issued by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) regarding a shortage of Norditropin (somatropin) products. The MSN recommended that all patients on Norditropin FlexPro 10mg pens and NordiFlex pens (all strengths) be changed to Omnitrope SurePal. Each patient affected by the shortage needed to be informed of the issue, a new prescription issued, and training provided on the new device. Affected patients were identified by the pharmacist and prioritised based on clinical need by their designated endocrinologist. The pharmacist wrote prescriptions for each patient and the patient’s parents/carers were contacted by an endocrine nurse specialist or the pharmacist. The patient’s family also received a letter explaining the situation with a QR code to the Omnitrope SurePal FAQ document. The homecare company was informed of all the patients needing training and parents/carer’s email addresses were provided to enable virtual teaching by homecare nurses. Parent and carer feedback was collected electronically by Microsoft Forms and sent to their email addresses on their experience of the switch and using Omnitrope. 54% of all patients on growth hormone in the paediatric endocrine service were affected by this shortage. The majority (58%) were contacted and changed by the endocrine team within 14 days of the notice. The remaining patients were contacted within 21 days of the notice. Of those families contacted for feedback, 28 responded. 78% had changed to Omnitrope by April 2023, and 11% ran out of growth hormone before changing to Omnitrope. Once the stock issues with Norditropin have been resolved 88% would like to change back to their previous device. Clear communication and close working relationships within the multidisciplinary team enabled us to change every patient within 3 weeks of receiving the MSN. All affected patients were contacted, and the relevant paperwork was completed for the homecare company to change the patients to Omnitrope resulting in very few patients going without growth hormone. Patients are generally not happy with Omnitrope compared to Norditropin products and would prefer to change back to Norditropin when the shortage is resolved.