Girl, 2, dies after being given alternative medicine by GP due to antibiotic shortage A two-year-old girl died after she was given an alternative medicine to treat her cough - after a national outbreak of Strep A led to a shortage in the antibiotics she needed.
The tragic case has led the government to "actively consider" changing laws which would allow pharmacists to dispense alternative denominations of medications if that which was originally prescribed isn't available, an inquest heard this week.
Her parents Adam and Jade were confident she would receive the care she needed, but a nationwide surge in Strep A (Group A Streptococcus) meant pharmacies across the UK were experiencing a shortage of first-line antibiotic phenoxymethylpenicillin.
Currently, pharmacists are only allowed to prescribe an alternative denomination if the government has issued a Serious Shortage Protocol relating to medications which are low or out of stock.
But just a few hours after taking her first dose, Ava deteriorated, and as mum Jade carried her into A&E at Ormskirk & District General Hospital, the two-year-old went into cardiac arrest and sadly died.
