Supplies of aspirin – which is currently being rationed by some pharmacies – should “return to normal over the coming weeks”, the Department of Health and Social Care (DH) has revealed.
The government is “aware of a recent disruption to the supply of aspirin dispersible tablets and [is] working with suppliers to understand the causes and aid a return to normal supply as soon as possible,” parliamentary under-secretary for the DH Zubir Ahmed said yesterday.
“Supply issues have been addressed, and stock is regularly being made available for pharmacies to order,” he added.
Read more: Pharmacies halt OTC sales and ration Aspirin as cost price rockets
The comment came in a written response to a parliamentary question from Conservative MP for The Wrekin Mark Pritchard.
Pritchard had asked what steps the DH was taking to “increase the availability of aspirin and normalise aspirin supply chains”.
The DH is “working with all partners in the supply chain, including manufacturers and United Kingdom distributors”, Ahmed said in his response.
This is to “ensure maximum accessibility to pharmacies and hospitals irrespective of where they are in the country”, he explained, adding that the department will “continue to monitor the situation”.
Tight supply
It comes after a National Pharmacy Association (NPA) snap survey last month found that pharmacies across the UK are “reporting widespread shortages of Aspirin” with some having to “tightly rationing supplies... for those patients with the most acute heart conditions or those in need of emergency prescriptions”.
Some 86% of surveyed pharmacies reported that they “had been unable to supply aspirin to their patients in the last week”, the body found.
And it also discovered that some pharmacies “have stopped making aspirin available for over-the-counter sales”.
Read more: Government bans aspirin exports as shortages hit pharmacies
Meanwhile, the DH last month added aspirin to its list of medicines that cannot be hoarded or exported out of the country because they are “needed for UK patients”.
NPA chief executive Henry Gregg told C+D at the time that the body is “concerned” by reports of pharmacies “being unable to order in stocks of aspirin” and “the implications this might have” for their patients.
