Sort Out Stocks Labour's Huw Irranca-Davies is calling for the government to take the lead on stock shortages and provide a solution to the supply issues

Sort Out Stocks Nearly three quarters of pharmacists believe the UK medicines supply chain is not fit for purpose and one in eight of them have seen patients seriously harmed as a result, C+D can reveal.

Sort Out Stocks PSNC claims it has received reports from pharmacists of wholesalers “deliberately inflating prices” and warned that the manipulation of the market is increasing the burden of generic shortages.

Sort Out Stocks The government's medicines supply chain group has criticised manufacturers for their inertia on shortages. But ABPI chief Stephen Whitehead argued that exports were the "real problem".

Sort Out Stocks Almost 60 per cent of pharmacists forecast that medicines shortages would get worse in the next year, the C+D Stocks Survey 2012 has found, and leaders fear shortages are starting to have a knock-on effect on the generic market.

Sort Out Stocks GPs have a responsibility to raise awareness of stock shortages, GPC clinical and prescribing committee chair Bill Beeby has said.

Sort Out Stocks Patient harm caused by branded medicine shortages has increased over the past year, community pharmacists have suggested.

Sort Out Stocks The burden of stock shortages increased over the past year, a C+D survey has suggested, and the average pharmacist now spends at least two working days each month chasing out-of-stock medicines.

Supply chain Short supply of medicines ingredients could spark a UK drug shortage if non-EU countries do not comply with new importing rules by July, the Association of British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) has warned.

Business UK manufacturers have reassured pharmacists that they will not face similar medicines shortages to Greece, following media reports of manufacturers withholding supply after the country racked up £1.7 billion in unpaid bills.

Sort out Stocks As APPG chair Kevin Barron (pictured) told the government to “stop denying the scale of the problem", 88 per cent of respondents to a C+D poll have demanded “drastic action” on medicines shortages.

Business IPF chief Claire Ward (pictured) has condemned the compensation pharmacists receive for chasing out-of-stocks and said that the rate shows "beyond doubt that the system is not fit for purpose".

Supply chain APPG chair Kevin Barron (pictured) said he will not "let the matter rest" after the pharmacy minister claimed medicines supply was "working well". Mr Barron said patients will "continue to suffer" unless decisive action was taken.

Supply chain Pharmacy leaders have hit out at the government's response to the APPG's report on medicines shortages, after pharmacy minister Earl Howe (pictured) claimed he was "not aware" of patient harm.

Supply chain A week before the pharmacy minister is due to speak out on stock shortages, APPG chair Kevin Barron (pictured) says he hopes the DH is taking shortages "more seriously than they have in the past".

Supply chain After a survey found some pharmacies are hit by six or more stock delays a week, with a direct impact on patient care, pharmacy leaders are renewing calls for the government to take action.

Supply chain PSNC has hit out at claims that pharmacists may take advantage of relaxed medicines quotas during the Olympics after one manufacturer claimed London pharmacists would "stockpile" medicines for export.

Practice Community pharmacists are struggling to obtain medicines in 80 per cent of NHS trusts and the government needs to “get off its backside” and resolve the problem, Ogmore MP Huw Irranca-Davies (pictured) has told C+D.

Supply chain Working collaboratively could create appetite for change, ABPI chief tells BAPW conference

Exclusive Almost a quarter of medicines supply delays experienced by pharmacies are leading to patient harm, more than double the estimated rates in 2009, an audit by Devon LPC has suggested.

The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) has applauded the MHRA's decision to end pharmacies' ability to trade medicines without having a wholesaler's licence, praising the...

Wholesaler Sigma Pharmaceuticals has partnered with online marketplace Rxchange to relaunch its medicines exchange website sigXchange , with new features including the ability to highlight...

Pharmacists, wholesalers and patients have urged the government to "show greater leadership" and implement cross-party proposals to tackle stock shortages "as a matter of urgency". ...

Supply chain MPs have slammed those responsible for the medicines supply chain, saying they have an “air of resignation” about stock shortages and have dismissed the problem as “either inevitable, or as having been inherited from the previous government”.

Stock shortages Manufacturers have hit out at exporting pharmacies, claiming some businesses are ordering so many packs of medicines that they are using up wholesalers’ entire stocks and leaving other pharmacies short.