The government is “not proactive” enough in preventing drug shortages, a new report by the House of Lords has found.
The report, published on February 4, said medicine supply issues “are not prioritised as the potential national security issue that they represent given the significant risk to people’s health”.
The DH instead “focuses on reactive actions when shortages have already occurred”, it added, and “does not effectively communicate shortages, or solutions, to frontline staff such as pharmacists and GPs”.
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And it noted that 73% of pharmacy workers in 2025 said that “ongoing issues with medicines supply are putting patients at risk”.
The report also urged the government to “accept that medicine security is, and should be treated as, a national security issue”.
The DH “needs to improve how it shares information with care providers about shortages and availability of medicine throughout the supply chain”, it said, and “ensure GPs, hospitals and community pharmacies have the tools they need to access medicines and support patients during shortages”.
“Little oversight”
According to the report, the DH has demonstrated “little oversight or leadership” of the UK’s medicine stocks, nor “the potential risks against critical medicines, whose absence would have significant impact on patients should they be in short supply”.
It said the “majority of active ingredients” required for NHS drugs “are controlled by China and India or other single sources”, which means patients are “at risk from reliance” on “fragile” global supply chains which “could be affected by dynamic changes in geopolitics, trade or national disasters in these regions”.
And it added that 80% of the prescribed medicines used by the NHS are generics that “can be made by any manufacturer” - but “just a quarter of these drugs are made in the UK” with the rest largely being manufactured in Europe and Asia.
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The report made several other recommendations, including that:
- The country’s medicine supply “should be included in the government’s National Risk Register”, with “regular preparedness exercises focused on large-scale medicine and Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) failure”
- There “must be a named individual with the appropriate seniority and authority to oversee resilience in the UK’s medicine supply chain”
- The government “must boost the UK manufacture of generic medicines and ingredients used by the NHS” and “work with the pharmaceutical industry to identify and prevent shortages”
- The government should “clearly signal the importance of stable supply chains to the industry through resilience-focused procurement and contract management”
- Medicines believed to be “critical” should be identified and shared by the government by “publishing a Critical Medicines List and API list based on clinical priority and supply chain vulnerability” - and the government should “set out how it plans to boost resilience” for drugs on the list
Real-life impact
It also gave examples of the effects of drug supply issues on patients with certain conditions.
It said patients with cystic fibrosis facing medicine shortages may experience “digestive issues and weight loss”, while patients with kidney or renal issues may have “‘life-saving’ kidney transplants” either “missed or postponed”.
For patients requiring HRT, it added, shortages led to “clinicians rationing prescriptions” and an increase in the “sale of counterfeit medications” - with patients facing “extreme anxiety” and the “return of menopausal symptoms” like “physical discomfort and psychological distress”.
“Stark warning”
Committee chair for the inquiry Baroness Morris of Yardley, said “there needs to be senior government oversight” of medicines security “with cross department coordination so that necessary action can be taken to both tackle issues when they occur and head off issues by taking timely preventative measures”.
Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) president Professor Claire Anderson said the report “is a stark warning about the continued impact” of drug supply issues, and urged the government to “to act on” the Committee’s recommendations.
“Pharmacists and pharmacy teams are working hard every day to help patients access vital medicines, and this report highlights key measures to improve UK medicines supply chain resilience,” she said.
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Community Pharmacy England (CPE) director of research and insights Dr James Davies, who gave evidence to the inquiry, said the report “is yet more clear evidence of the escalating medicines supply crisis”.
“Shortages continue to impact patients and place huge pressure on community pharmacies, with our most recent data showing that one in four teams are spending more than two hours a day sourcing alternatives for their patients,” he added.
“We cannot let persistent shortages become business as usual.”
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It comes after serious shortage protocols (SSPs) for pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy (PERT) drug Creon and hormone replacement therapy (HRT) Estradot were last month extended to April 17.
And it follows an NHS hospital medicines lead Richard Bowers telling the medicines security inquiry in November that community pharmacists “should be given more support in managing shortages”.
Bowers, the lead clinician for medicines procurement and supply at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust said at the time that “it feels [like] community pharmacy is sinking when it comes to” medicine supply issues.
