UK patients face “new normal” of medicines shortages

Global supply problems have caused a “shock rise” in shortages of life-saving drugs like antibiotics and epilepsy medication, new research reveals today.

These shortages come at a cost to the patient and the taxpayer and, on the UK, are happening despite the National Health Service (NHS) spending hundreds of extra millions trying to mitigate the problem. The UK risks being left in the cold when it comes to co-ordinated European Union attempts to tackle them.

That’s according to a new report by the Nuffield Trust think tank and a group of academics, funded by the Health Foundation, which examined key indicators on drug shortages in the UK in the context of global problems with supply chains and the availability of key ingredients. It finds that the past two years have seen constantly elevated medicines shortages, in a "new normal" of frequent disruption to crucial products.