Doctors like me get the blame when hospitals run out of medicines. Politicians get off scot-free | Ammad Butt

Frontline staff are having to make compromises to treat patients appropriately. It's scandalous nothing is being done

Medicine shortages in the UK have been a regular feature on newspaper front pages in recent years. As a doctor on the frontline, I see how this instability in our medicine supply chain is playing out on the ground.

I work in a large city hospital and am used to meeting disgruntled patients who have had to wait hours in clinic to receive treatment. But just imagine their concern when I have to explain to them that the medication we would usually treat them with is not available, and that they will have to take an alternative instead or stay in hospital for even longer as a result.

Ammad Butt is a freelance writer and foundation doctor at University Hospitals Birmingham