Pharmacies are “tightly rationing” supplies of Aspirin for patients, a snap poll of 540 pharmacies last week by the NPA has found.
It said pharmacists had reported restricting Aspirin to patients with “acute heart conditions” or for “emergency prescriptions”.
It also said a “number” have also said they have stopped making aspirin available for over-the-counter sales.
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The price of aspirin has “soared” in the last eight weeks, the NPA said its pricing analysis had found.
Highlighting an example, it said the price per pack of Aspirin 75mg dispersible tablets had increased to £3.90 this month, but the NHS will reimburse pharmacies £2.18 a packet, meaning an average pharmacy will lose £1.72 each time it is dispensed.
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“We’re concerned,” said NPA chair Olivier Picard. “For pharmacies that can get hold of supply, costs will far exceed what they will be reimbursed by the NHS, yet more signs of a fundamentally broken pharmacy contract in desperate need of reform by the government.
“We’ve long called for pharmacists to be able to make substitutions where a medicine is not in stock,” he added.
“The status quo is not only frustrating for patients, it is also dangerous.
“It is madness to send someone back to their GP to get a prescription changed when a safe alternative is in stock.”
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Aspirin is commonly used to treat patients with a history of strokes, heart disease, chronic kidney disease and diabetes.
Fifty million prescriptions for Aspirin were dispensed in the UK in 2025.
The NPA also called on the government to “reform the broken pharmacy contract” which “regularly leaves pharmacists dispensing NHS prescriptions at a loss”.
Negotiations for the upcoming CPCF contract are set to begin soon.
