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Health minister Zubir Ahmed has confirmed that aspirin supplies are expected to return to normal “over the coming weeks”.
In a response to a written parliamentary question, published on 4 February 2025, asking what steps were being taken to increase the availability of aspirin and to normalise aspirin supply chains, Ahmed said the Department of Health and Social Care “will continue to monitor the situation and expects supplies to return to normal over the coming weeks”.
Recent shortages of aspirin have forced pharmacists to carefully manage supplies, while in some cases they have been unable to supply the drug or have had to restricted over-the-counter sales.
On 16 January 2026, all strengths of aspirin were added to the government’s list of medicines that cannot be exported from the UK or hoarded. The ban came into effect the following day.
The NHS Specialist Pharmacy Service published an alert in December 2025, which reported shortages of aspirin 75mg dispersible tablets. However, at the time the supplier had confirmed that production had been increased to fulfil orders and supply was “anticipated to return to normal over the next few weeks”.
“Supply issues have been addressed, and stock is regularly being made available for pharmacies to order,” Ahmed said.
“We are working with all partners in the supply chain, including manufacturers and UK distributors, to ensure maximum accessibility to pharmacies and hospitals, irrespective of where they are in the country.”
The results of a poll of 540 pharmacies across the UK, carried out by the National Pharmacy Association on 20–22 January 2026, revealed that 86% of respondents had been unable to supply aspirin to their patients in the previous week.
Latest data from OpenPrescribing show that more than 1.5 million prescription items for aspirin were prescribed in England in November 2025.
