Medicines
You cannot get your medicine
For a lot of households, this is the only part of preparedness that genuinely matters.
Individual medicine shortages happen constantly and are almost always solved by a substitute. Being cut off from a pharmacy for days is rarer, and mostly weather.
Build a buffer legally and slowly
Order every repeat prescription on the first day you are allowed to, not the day you run out. Over a few months that quietly gives you a week or two in hand, with no stockpiling and no arguing with anyone.
Ask your prescriber whether you can be moved to a longer prescription interval. Many people can and never think to ask.
The written list
One page. Every person in the house, every medicine, the dose, the strength, what it is for, allergies, and the prescriber. In a waterproof bag, and photographed on two phones.
This is the single most useful piece of paper in an emergency, and every paramedic, pharmacist and rest centre nurse will tell you the same.
Cold chain and power
If you keep insulin or another medicine in the fridge, find out today how long it is safe unrefrigerated, and write it on the list. The answer is usually longer than people fear.
If anyone uses powered equipment at home, oxygen, a feeding pump, a ventilator, a stairlift or a hoist, tell your electricity network now.
Ask your utility about their medical baseline or critical care programme, and register with your county emergency management office. Both are free.
Do not
- Do not buy prescription medicines from anyone who is not a licensed pharmacy. In Britain, the EU and the US this is both unsafe and, for many drugs, a criminal offence.
- Do not ration a dose to make a supply last without speaking to a pharmacist first. There is nearly always a legal, faster answer, including emergency supply at the pharmacist discretion.
If life is at risk, call 911 first. Everything on this page comes second.