{"id":505324,"date":"2026-03-31T14:40:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T14:40:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/505324\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T14:40:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T14:40:08","slug":"some-medicines-could-run-out-in-weeks-or-even-days-nhs-england-head-warns-pharmaceuticals-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/505324\/","title":{"rendered":"Some medicines could run out in weeks or even days, NHS England head warns | Pharmaceuticals industry"},"content":{"rendered":"

The head of the NHS in England<\/a> has said he is \u201creally worried\u201d about medicine supply issues.<\/p>\n

A number of experts have raised concerns about cost implications and supply disruption linked to the war in Iran<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The NHS England chief executive, Jim Mackey, was asked during a phone-in on LBC<\/a> Radio what contingency planning was in place because \u201cthe UK imports 75% of its medicine\u201d. He said: \u201cWe are really worried about this. We\u2019ve already had a couple of supply shocks in the last 12 to 18 months of key supplies.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said a team was in place to \u201cfocus on where the risks might be through the supply chains\u201d.<\/p>\n

Asked how much supply there was, he replied: \u201cIt depends what you\u2019re talking about. In every area, we\u2019ve got enough to get through for a reasonable period \u2026 so generally, a few weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause things perish and it costs money to store and various other things go out of use, you can\u2019t hold years and years of supply, generally dependent on the product we keep a reasonable period. Some of that is held centrally, some held locally.\u201d<\/p>\n

Questioned whether, in some instances, it would be \u201cweeks\u2019 worth of supply\u201d, Mackey said: \u201cYeah, it could be days for some products.\u201d<\/p>\n

Henry Gregg, chief executive of the National Pharmacy Association, said: \u201cWe\u2019re not currently seeing shortages of medicine directly linked to the conflict in the Middle East, but pharmacies are seeing disturbing spikes in prices, which can be an early indicator of challenges.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Department of Health<\/a> have issued unprecedented numbers of price concessions designed to cope with price surges, which are likely exacerbated by this current situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

A government spokesperson said: \u201cThere are currently no reported medicine shortages as a result of conflict in the Middle East. We continue to monitor the situation closely for any impacts on the medical supply chain.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe department actively monitors emerging threats to supply resilience and has established processes in place to manage disruption across the health and social care sector.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The head of the NHS in England has said he is \u201creally worried\u201d about medicine supply issues. A…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":505325,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-505324","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=505324"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505324\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/505325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=505324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=505324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=505324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}