Case study: Designing a more resilient system for medicines supply in the UK
Challenge
Over the last few years, we have observed an increase in the number of medicine shortages across different classes and types, with some shortages that are directly impacting patients, despite the mitigations in place.
iethico, a start-up software company that is developing technology to match medicines demand with supply and provide real-time information on medicines shortages was keen to understand hospital and chief pharmacists’ perceptions of the factors contributing to medicines shortages. This included their impact on pharmacy teams and patients, but it was important to hear directly from pharmacists about the potential solutions they felt would help improve medicines supply chain issues over the short, medium and long-term.
The Pharmaceutical Journal and iethico partnered to undertake this discovery research and engage further with hospital and chief pharmacists.
Discovery
To present a more up-to-date picture of the issue facing hospital pharmacists in the UK, The Pharmaceutical Journal conducted a survey of hospital pharmacists in March and April 2023.
The survey had 56 respondents, 66% of whom were chief pharmacists.
Top line results:
Discussions and solutions
The Pharmaceutical Journal hosted a roundtable event that brought together to bring together a panel of experts, including hospital chief pharmacists, academics, civil servants and representatives of the pharmaceutical industry from across the UK, to discuss medicines supply and shortages in UK hospitals and the
The attendees discussed some of the contributory factors to medicines shortages, such as geopolitical factors, supply and demand issues and reduced stock holding in hospitals. They also discussed some of the ways that they work together on “mutual aid” to mitigate medicines supply issues.
The roundtable attendees also discussed some potential solutions to the problems identified, recommending accurate information is provided in a timely manner across the supply chain, with better forecasting and flexibility for pharmacy teams to manage shortages of medicines. The attendees also agreed that supply and procurement of medicines in the UK needed improvement, with greater transparency around government contracts and centralised holdings of key medicines for emergencies.
There needed to better communication with the public, the attendees agreed, with suggested improvements including a ‘shortages tsar’ to tackle issues in the supply chain and an app, similar to the Argos model, that shows availability of medicines in community pharmacy.
View the full meeting report here: Designing a more resilient system for medicines supply in the UK
DANIEL HAMBURY/STELLA PICTURES LTD
Delivering impact
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Feedback
“Working with the PJ has been a pleasure. From the onset the approach has been one of collaboration, from initial discussion when they quickly understood our objectives and brought to play their own knowledge and experience to enhance the overall package of work we commission to the delivery of insightful surveys, the roundtable and final publication.
A key contribution to the overall project success was their ability to leverage their relationships and networks in a way that would be difficult for any other organisation to achieve.”
– Deborah Ainge, Chief Executive Officer, iethico