A grandmother has warned that Brexit has cut off her crucial supply of life-saving drugs.

Patricia Cope, 81, needs to take a steady supply of Creon enzyme capsules in order to digest her food as her pancreas is unable to produce the proteins naturally.

But the Pensioner, who lives in Great Missenden, can no longer get the drug from her local Kinton Pharmacy or pharmacies further afield in Amersham, Aylesbury, Beaconsfield, the Chalfonts and Prestwood.

Patricia told the Bucks Free Press: “If you don’t take them, you suffer from malnutrition and eventually you die because you can’t absorb any of the goodness from your food.”

The mother-of-three, who also has four grandchildren, blames the supply issues of the enzymes on the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union in 2020.

She said: “I put it down to Brexit. We can’t apply for a licence to make these drugs in this country because now we have left, they won’t issue this country with a licence.

“I don’t ever remember hearing anything like this while we were in the EU, I am sure it is down to Brexit. Now we have left, we are last in the pecking order for everything.”

Research by the Nuffield Trust this year found that medicine shortages have become the ‘new normal’ since Brexit and that there are now double the number of drug company warnings of shortages than there were three years ago.

Patricia is supposed to take eight Creon capsules with each meal, following her major surgery in October 2022 to correct a ‘giant’ hiatus hernia, which was touching her heart and oesophagus.

The pensioner stressed that there was no negligence on the part of the surgeon but explained that the operation left her with vagus nerve damage and pancreatic exocrine insufficiency, a condition stopping the small intestine from digesting food properly.

Patricia said: “I am worried because I have got the side effects from the operation, and I shouldn’t have to have this worry over whether I am going to be able to keep on with my medication. I can’t afford to run out.”

The retiree began taking Creon early last year, before moving to Nutrizym, however that drug has also now become unavailable along with Pancrease.

She has been told by pharmacies that Creon will not be available until 2026, while Nutrizym could hit the shelves again later this year.

After previously getting Creon for free on the NHS, Patricia has now been forced to import the drug from her son who lives in Germany and sends her 400 capsules at a time, which lasts her 16 days.

She said: “I am having to pay €400 for those, plus £55 import duty before they are released. I can’t afford that on my pension and certainly not to 2026.”

Patricia said some friends coming to visit her soon from Berlin are going to bring a fresh supply of Creon with them.

She added: “When my son was in Germany, he went to the pharmacy and the pharmacist said, ‘What on Earth is happening in England? We are inundated with people ringing us up for Creon’.

“It is not just my medicine that is in short supply, it is cancer drugs, ADHD, there are lots of conditions where the drugs aren’t available. Nothing is being done.”

Patricia has an appointment to see her Conservative MP Greg Smith at his surgery this month to discuss the drug shortages, but says she has not heard back from Labour health secretary Wes Streeting.

She said: “All the people who were on Creon went onto Nutrizym and Nutrizym was overwhelmed and couldn’t cope with all the orders. They have been out of production for a few months as well, so I have no back up.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care told the Free Press: “We have inherited ongoing global supply problems that continue to impact the availability of medicines, including Creon.

“We know how distressing this can be for patients, and we are working closely with industry, the NHS and others in the supply chain to mitigate the risk to patients and make sure alternative products are available until their usual treatments are back in stock.”

They claimed that supply issues with Creon were impacting countries throughout Europe and have been caused by limited availability of raw ingredients and manufacturing capacity constraints to produce volumes needed to meet demand.

The supplier of Creon has advised that it expects to have regular supplies of the drug released each month for the remainder of the year.

The department also said that ‘serious shortage protocols’ were in place for Creon 10,000 and 25,000 capsules to limit prescriptions to one months’ supply to ensure that the drug ‘remains in circulation’.

Kinton Pharmacy told the Free Press that the official shortage of Creon and similar drugs started on May 24.

A spokesperson said: “Unfortunately multiple medicines go out of stock, including cancer treatments, HRT, ADHD medication. In most cases we work with the GP to find an alternative for the patient however sometimes it is not possible.”