Managing Medication Shortages
Please note, this page is intended for community pharmacy teams. If you are a patient or member of the public who wishes to query the availability of a medicine you have been prescribed, the first step is to speak to a member of your local pharmacy team directly.
Pharmacies may find the following guide useful:
A guide to managing medicines supply and shortages (DHSC and NHSE)
Informative resources for pharmacy owners:
Information leaflet for patients: Where’s my medicine?
Info for ICS, GPs and NHS prescribers: Medicine Shortages: A Briefing for ICSs, GPs and other NHS prescribers
Visit CPE’s Shortages Latest News page:
Visit Community Pharmacy England to view all their latest news on medication shortages:
The following page contains further resources that pharmacy teams can use to educate patients and prescribers about medicine supply issues. Access resources.
The SPS online Medicines Supply Tool is available to pharmacists who have an account with the SPS website.
The tool provides up-to-date information about medicine supply issues. You can use it to search for information on medicine supply issues by drug class, issue severity, or by new, ongoing, or resolved. You can also check when a medicine is expected to be back in stock.
Tool content is populated and maintained by the DHSC and NHSE CMU Medicines Supply teams.
SPS (specialist Pharmacy Service) Resources:
Posters (Published 10 October 2025)
A collection of posters designed by SPS for healthcare professionals to print and display in the workplace are now available.
