The majority of pharmacies (89%) were unable to dispense a medicine at least once a day in the past year owing to supply issues, a survey conducted by the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) has revealed.<\/p>\n
The survey \u2014 conducted between 5 and 26 March 2026, with results published on 18 June 2026<\/a> \u2014 also revealed that most of the 520 pharmacy owners who responded, (98%) reported that they had encountered patients who had visited several pharmacies in a day to source a prescription in the past year.<\/p>\n In addition, the survey results showed that nine in ten (96%, n=499) pharmacy owners surveyed said they felt the current situation posed a serious risk to the safety of their patients, while eight in ten (83%, n=432) said their team had experienced patient abuse owing to shortages.<\/p>\n One pharmacy reported that they had to call the police to remove an abusive patient who had their medication delayed owing to supply challenges, the survey results highlighted.<\/p>\n Olivier Picard, chair of the National Pharmacy Association, said current medication shortages were \u201csome of the most severe the UK has experienced\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThis data confirms [sic] what pharmacists and GPs have been experiencing for many months; medicine shortages are becoming more frequent, lasting longer and causing increasing disruption for patients.<\/p>\n \u201cOur medicines market has never been so volatile, with patients and primary care colleagues at the sharp end of events outside of their control,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is deeply distressing to find patients who have travelled from pharmacy to pharmacy to find the medicines they need without success.\u201d<\/p>\n He added that while medicine shortages are \u201cfrustrating and worrying\u201d \u2014 causing pharmacy teams to \u201cspend significant time hunting stock and liaising with GP teams when they should be getting on with caring for their patients\u201d \u2014 they also \u201cpose a serious risk to patient safety\u201d in some instances.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re urging the government to convene an emergency taskforce to bring together all parts of the supply chain to tackle this issue.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAs well as this, the government should amend legislation that prevents pharmacies from making simple substitutions to a prescription, where are a safe alternative is in stock,\u201d he continued. \u201cImproving dialogue and information sharing ahead of time between GP surgeries and pharmacies can help mitigate some of the impact of disruption to supply chains.\u201d<\/p>\n Victoria Tzortziou Brown, president of the Royal College of GPs, commented: \u201cWith appropriate safeguards in place, the College is supportive of pharmacists being able to make limited changes to prescriptions when a medicine is unavailable and a safe, clinically appropriate alternative is available within agreed prescribing guidance.<\/p>\n \u201cWe would also support systems that enable timely communication between pharmacists and GP practices when shortages arise, without creating unnecessary administrative burden.<\/p>\n \u201cThe most important thing is that patients are able to access the medication they need safely and without delay. More widely, it\u2019s essential that when shortages occur, the underlying causes are quickly identified and resolved.\u201d<\/p>\n From autumn 2026, community pharmacist prescribers will be able to prescribe an alternative item where there is a need to meet the needs of an individual patient \u2014 including in the event of supply issues \u2014 as long as there are arrangements in place with the original prescriber to allow such an approach, as part of the \u2018Community pharmacy contractual framework<\/a>\u2018 for 2026\/2027.<\/p>\n The government is currently considering public feedback on proposals to allow all community pharmacists<\/a> to dispense a medicine of a different form or strength to that prescribed under certain circumstances, including supply issues.<\/p>\n James Davies, director of research and insights at Community Pharmacy England, urged the government to bring forward the legislative changes in light of the NPA\u2019s findings.<\/p>\n \u201cOur ongoing research demonstrates that pharmacy teams continue to spend increasing amounts of time on procurement activities\u00a0to support the supply of medicines to patients in their local communities. As medicines shortages persist, pharmacies and GPs must work together to get the best outcomes for patients, which may mean considering alternatives and amending prescriptions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cBut pharmacy teams also need more support from government. It is now six months since the government consultation on pharmacist flexibilities closed, and we urge them to publish the results and bring forward legislative changes to enable pharmacists to make amendments to prescriptions.\u201d<\/p>\n Tase Oputu, president of the Royal College of Pharmacy, said: \u201cMedicines shortages remain a significant concern for patients and pharmacy teams. Our \u2018Medicines shortages: one year on<\/a>\u2019\u00a0report found that, despite positive steps to improve medicines resilience, pharmacy teams continue to manage shortages of widely prescribed medicines daily.<\/p>\n \u201cAddressing shortages requires coordinated action across the medicines supply chain, and pharmacists should be enabled to use their clinical expertise to help patients access treatment safely without unnecessary delay.\u201d<\/p>\n In February 2026, a report from the House of Lords identified medicine shortages as a \u201cnational security issue\u201d<\/a>. In response, the government said<\/a> it was \u201cprogressing a range of measures<\/a>\u00a0to strengthen its understanding of supply chain pressures\u201d to mitigate the impact of medicines shortages.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The majority of pharmacies (89%) were unable to dispense a medicine at least once a day in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":502691,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[163,85,46,482],"class_list":["post-502690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-medication","tag-health","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-medication"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=502690"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502690\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/502691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=502690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=502690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=502690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}