Key Summary
- The committee said the government only takes reactive actions after the shortages have occurred.
- It also does not effectively communicate shortages or solutions to frontline staff such as pharmacists and GPs.
- There is little oversight from the Department of Health and Social Care regarding medicine stocks.
A House of Lords public services committee has called for treating medicine security as a national security issue, and wants the government to strengthen the supply chains.
In a report titled 'Medicines security - a national priority', the committee stated that medicine shortages are not prioritised as a potential national security issue, though their absence could pose a risk to people’s health.
It also noted that the UK Government and NHS, which play a key role in ensuring medicine supply, lack oversight and coordination over medicine resilience.
The committee, in its findings, said the government is not proactive in protecting the UK from fragile supply chains, and it takes reactive actions after the shortages have occurred.
It also does not effectively communicate shortages, or solutions, to frontline staff such as pharmacists and GPs.
There is little oversight or leadership from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) regarding medicine stocks, nor the potential risks against critical medicines, whose absence may impact patients.
Around 73 percent of pharmacy workers in 2025 have stated that ongoing issues with medicines supply were putting patients at risk.
The committee noted that a majority of active ingredients required for NHS medicines are controlled by China, India or other single sources.
This leaves UK patients at risk from reliance on fragile global supply chains, which could be affected by geopolitical changes, trade or national disasters in these regions.
Though 80 percent of the NHS-prescribed medicines are ‘generic’, which can be made by any manufacturer, only a quarter of these drugs are made in the UK.
The report recommends that the government should accept that medicine security is a national security issue.
The Government needs to improve how it shares information with care providers about medicine availability throughout the supply chain, and ensure that GPs, hospitals and community pharmacies have the tools to access medicines and support patients during shortages.
Medicine supply should be included in the Government’s National Risk Register, with regular preparedness exercises focused on large-scale medicine and Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) failure.
The report called for naming an individual with the appropriate seniority and authority to oversee resilience in the UK’s medicine supply chain, work across Government to prioritise this issue and ensure necessary data is shared.
The Government must boost the UK manufacture of generic medicines and ingredients used by the NHS.
It should work with the pharmaceutical industry to identify and prevent shortages, through boosting medicines manufacturing and supply chain resilience, both globally and once medicines have arrived on UK shores.
The Government should convey to the industry the importance of stable supply chains.
It should identify medicines critical for the UK and publish them in a Critical Medicines List and an API list based on clinical priority and supply chain vulnerability.
The committee chair, Baroness Morris of Yardley, said, “We tend to only think of medicines and medicine supply when we are ill and need access to medication via our GPs, hospitals or pharmacies.
"However, the issue is of great importance because of the risk to people’s health and wellbeing if medicine shortages occur."
She said the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is not proactive in tackling these issues, and it is not given the requisite attention.
"There is a general lack of oversight and leadership to address current shortcomings across the medicines supply and manufacturing process.
“We’ve set out several recommendations in our report which should help tackle the issues raised."
There is a need for better communication of any shortages to GPs, hospitals and pharmacies so they can take necessary action to support patients.
She called for a senior official to oversee the issue with cross-department coordination.
“The Government also needs to look more closely at how we can boost medicines manufacturing within the UK to reduce our reliance on single-source supplies or an over-reliance on China or India."
