Fewer people reporting problems obtaining prescriptions in England, show ONS data

People in England are now reporting fewer problems obtaining NHS prescriptions at their local pharmacies, according to Office for National Statistics (ONS) data.

In September 2024, the ONS began publishing data on people’s experiences with NHS healthcare services in England, based on monthly online surveys of people aged 16 years and over.

The ongoing survey is conducted by the ONS and commissioned by NHS England.

Of the 55,474 people surveyed between 7–29 January 2025, 88.1% who had used NHS prescription services in the last 28 days said they had not experienced any problems in accessing their medicines in that time.

This represents a greater proportion than that seen from the first survey carried out between 23 July and 15 August 2024, where out of 71,174 respondents surveyed, 79.9% of respondents reported no issues.

Data from the survey conducted in January 2025 also show that 8.6% of respondents said they had to return to the same pharmacy on a separate occasion to obtain their prescription in the last 28 days — a decrease from 13.6% of respondents in the survey carried out between 23 July and 15 August 2024.

Some 1.4% of respondents said they had needed to try multiple pharmacies for their prescribed medicine in the last 28 days — down from 3.6% of respondents in July and August 2024.

However, medicines shortages continue to be an area of concern. In December 2024, two coroners expressed concerns over shortages of epilepsy and ADHD medication, following the death of two patients.

In February 2025, a letter from a cross-party group of 45 MPs was subsequently sent to health secretary Wes Streeting, calling on him to commission an urgent review into medicines shortages.

The annual ‘RPS Workforce Wellbeing Survey’, published on 18 February 2025, also found that more than half (56%) of respondents said their mental health had been adversely affected by having to deal with medicines shortages over the past year.

A spokesperson for NHS England said: “It’s incredibly encouraging that patients and healthcare professionals are experiencing fewer issues in obtaining medicines than six months ago.

“The NHS has been working closely with industry partners and colleagues at the Department of Health and Social Care to strengthen the supply of medicines into hospitals, primary care and community pharmacy, and this new dataset highlights the importance of strong positive relationships with those partners.”