News | Medicines shortages

News

Rise in pharmacists reporting patient safety risks from medicines shortages, shows survey

Exclusive: Results of The Pharmaceutical Journal's 2023 salary and job satisfaction survey have revealed 57% of pharmacists say medicines shortages have put patients at risk in the past six months.…

Published: 1 June 2023

Feature

Designing a more resilient system for medicines supply in the UK

Pharmacists attending a roundtable hosted by The Pharmaceutical Journal called for a new system to share the latest information and guidance on managing the growing number of medicine shortages facing the NHS.…

Published: 24 May 2023

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News

Serious shortage protocol issued to restrict dispensing of HRT drug Utrogestan

The government has said it expects the drug to have supply issues "until late 2023".…

Published: 22 May 2023

Feature

Coping with the ‘Davina effect’ on HRT

As HRT shortages continue and there are reports of overprescribing, this episode of The PJ Pod explores how pharmacists can best navigate these problems.…

Published: 21 April 2023

News

Community pharmacies spending twice as much time managing medicines shortages as last year

Pharmacy staff are spending an average of 11 hours per week on medicines procurement in 2023, double the 5.3 hours they reported in the previous year, a survey has revealed.…

Published: 13 April 2023

News

Proportion of people unable to buy medicines doubles in one year, government survey shows

The percentage of people unable to buy the medicines they needed increased to 5%, compared with 2% in a similar time period in 2022.…

Published: 15 March 2023

News

Antidepressants make up more than half of items dispensed using serious shortage protocols

Exclusive: Data analysis by The Pharmaceutical Journal also revealed that HRT products accounted for just 10% of all SSP items dispensed between October 2019 and October 2022.…

Published: 9 March 2023

Feature

Complex and inflexible: the shortcomings of serious shortage protocols

Use of ‘serious shortage protocols’ dropped significantly in 2022, despite growing numbers of medicine shortages, leaving pharmacists calling for the system to be overhauled.…

Published: 9 March 2023

Opinion

How COVID-19 affected pharmacy supply of antibiotics for uncomplicated urinary tract infections

Learnings from a community pharmacy patient group direction service for the management of suspected urinary tract infections, which identified prescribing patterns during the COVID-19 pandemic.…

Published: 20 February 2023

News

‘Devastating effects’ caused by switching between branded and generic Parkinson’s disease medication

Charity Parkinson's UK said patients had experienced pain and other symptoms after being switched between branded and generic medications.…

Published: 1 February 2023