Are medicine supplies at risk?

It’s not as though running the NHS is easy at the best of times – add to that a potential international crises in energy supply and shipping logistics and it becomes even more of a challenge.

Jim Mackey, the head of NHS England, has expressed concerns about a potential shortage of medical supplies such as syringes, masks and surgical instruments caused by disruption in the Middle East during the conflict between the USA and Iran, which has spiralled into a wider conflict affecting the region and the Strait of Hormuz (now effectively blocked) in the Persian Gulf.

Disruption to the Strait is unlikely to directly interrupt UK medicine supplies but could significantly affect the NHS through rising energy and transport costs, increasing drug prices and heightening the risk of intermittent shortages of some medicines.

It is of, course, not possible to say for how long Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz will continue, nor the wider effect of the disruption caused on other supply lines. However, with no immediate end to the conflict in sight, energy prices, remain jittery. President Donald Trump’s address to the nation on 1 April, which struck an optimistic tone but offered limited detail on how the blockade might be resolved, did little to reassure markets.

Dr Leyla Hannbeck, Chief Executive of the Independent Pharmacies Association, agreed with Jim Mackey’s warning, commenting that it, ‘Reinforces what we have been saying for some time… Medicine shortages pose a serious and growing threat to patients across the UK, and the Government must act now to ensure people are not left without the vital treatments they depend on.’

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