Medicine shortages across Europe

Pharmacy press

95% of hospital pharmacists across Europe are experiencing medicine shortages, according to a new report. The report, by the European Association of Hospital Pharmacists, found that hospital pharmacists across 58 countries reported that medicines shortages had delayed or cancelled care.

We were asked to comment on the report’s findings, and on how the shortage of medicines in Europe is affecting community pharmacies.

Our Director of Pharmacy Funding, Mike Dent, said:

“Medicine shortages are a growing issue shared by both primary and secondary care. This follows years of turbulence across many global supply chains due to Brexit, the COVID pandemic, war in Ukraine, and wider economic instability.

In the community pharmacy sector we have seen medicine supply and pricing issues intensify this year, with 92% of pharmacy teams reporting they are having to deal with supply issues on a daily basis in our 2023 Pharmacy Pressures Survey. Community pharmacy owners and their teams are working immeasurably hard doing their best to source vital medicines, but this is putting considerable pressure on them as their workload increases. The situation shows little sign of improving and, with patient safety at risk, the Government urgently needs to step in and help stabilise the medicines market.”