Medicines shortages have become commonplace since Brexit: Nuffield report
The number of warnings that pharma suppliers have given in the UK around medicine shortages have shot up from 648 in 2020 to 1,634 in 2023, causing serious problems for the NHS, doctors, pharmacists and patients.
According to the report from The Nuffield Trust, global supply problems - such as around import problems from Asia, impact of COVID-19 shutdowns, inflation and global instability - are partly to blame for these medicine shortages.
This has been particularly seen with antibiotics and epilepsy drugs. The impact of Brexit has also been a feature - whilst not causing supply shortages, it has significantly weakened the UK's ability to respond, as the UK now has a separate supply chain and marketing authorisation procedure from the EU. The thinktank has highlighted the impact of the UK being outside of the EU's Critical Medicines Alliance and Voluntary Solidarity Mechanism.
The UK not being part of the European Medicines Agency means that drug approvals are typically much slower now in the UK compared to the EU. In 2023, 56 drugs were authorised faster in the EU, eight were not approved in the UK at all, and four were approved faster in the UK.
Mark Dayan, the Nuffield Trust Brexit Programme Lead, said: "The rise in shortages of vital medicines from rare to commonplace has been a shocking development that few would have expected a decade ago. More and more patients across the UK are experiencing a pharmacist telling them that their medication is not available, it may not be available soon, and it may not be available anywhere nearby. This is also creating a great deal of extra work for both GPs and pharmacists."
Paul Rees, the Chief Executive of the National Pharmacy Association, commented that medicine shortages had not become commonplace and this was totally unacceptable. He said: "Ensuring an adequate supply of medicines is surely a basic function of any modern health system. Pharmacists are spending hours a day hunting down stock, yet too often have to turn patients away. It's distressing when pharmacy teams find themselves unable to provide a prompt medicines services, through no fault of their own."
The Department of Health and Social Care's response noted that, of the 14,000 licensed medicines in the UK, the overwhelming majority were in good supply. The DHSC's priority is to ensure patients get treatments they need, and so works with industry, the NHS and others to ensure patients continue to have access to an alternative treatment until their usual product is back in stock.