England's medicine shortages deepen, hitting heart, stroke and mental-health patients hardest
Prescription medicine availability in England has become a serious worry for patients with chronic conditions over the past six months. The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) reported in its latest survey this year that 88% of pharmacies were unable to source at least one prescription item per week. That is 17 percentage points up on the 71% recorded at the end of 2024.
The most affected categories include diuretics and beta blockers used for heart failure, antithrombotic drugs prescribed after stroke, antidepressants (especially sertraline and fluoxetine formulations) and eye-infection drops. PSNC data record close to 250 separate prescription items reported as out of stock weekly, up from 87 in the same period in 2023.
This translates into hard real-world consequences for many. Anne Carter, 73, from Birmingham, is on bisoprolol for heart failure and said she could not obtain her medicine across three pharmacies for five days last month. "I went from the first pharmacy to a second to a third. The pharmacist said, 'We don't know, we can't tell when it will arrive.' By day three my ankles were starting to swell."
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) describes the situation as "unsustainable." Pharmacists report spending an average of 11 hours a week on the phone or chasing alternative supply chains for medicines. RPS president Professor Claire Anderson told the BBC: "This is exhausting both patients and our pharmacists. Pharmacy staff's main job should be looking after the patient, not working the phone."
The causes are layered. Manufacturing disruptions in active-pharmaceutical-ingredient supply chains in India and China, delays in post-Brexit import licensing, manufacturer prioritisation of more profitable markets, and fluctuations in international pricing controls are among the prime factors. The UK Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) says the problem is largely global, and most European countries are facing similar pressure.
DHSC figures show 142 separate medicines were placed on the Serious Shortage Protocol list in the first four months of 2026 - up 64% on the same period last year. Sertraline, an antidepressant, has been issued four separate shortage protocols in the past six months; each implies at least a two-week access problem. The antibiotic amoxicillin has joined the official list a second time this year.
Doctors say they are seeing direct clinical fallout from medicines being unavailable. Royal College of GPs (RCGP) chair Professor Kamila Hawthorne said: "Patients stopping treatment, missing doses or splitting their prescriptions in half can trigger hospital admissions in conditions such as heart failure." An RCGP poll found 64% of GPs had written an alternative prescription for at least one patient in the past three months because of medicines shortages.
Pharmacists currently have limited powers to switch to alternative brands or doses. Existing prescription law allows them to substitute only in specific circumstances and with doctor approval. The PSNC has urged the government to grant pharmacists temporary powers to make substitution decisions without leaving the pharmacy. The Department of Health says it is considering the proposal but has not yet decided.
The department announced its Medicine Shortage Resilience Plan, a four-year programme, in September 2025. The plan calls for doubling strategic stock reserves, supporting domestic manufacturing lines for at least ten essential medicines, and negotiating UK participation in the European Joint Procurement Mechanism for active pharmaceutical ingredients. The plan's impact is not expected to be felt until 2027.
For individual patients in the meantime, pharmacists offer practical workarounds: a single 30 or 60 day prescription rather than 28-day prescriptions split across multiple pharmacies; speaking to the doctor in advance about alternative brands or generic formulations of the same active ingredient; and calling the doctor as soon as a critical medicine such as an antiplatelet or anticoagulant runs to half or a quarter of supply. As Anne Carter's experience shows, while the shortages persist, thousands of households are taking similar steps.