To ask the Minister of Health to detail any action his Department is taking to strengthen medicine supply to Northern Ireland and prevent shortages, ahead of the expected reduced availability of certain medications.

There are over 14,000 medicines licensed in the UK, and the majority are in good supply and are available in sufficient quantities to meet patient needs. However, medicines are manufactured as part of a highly regulated, complex and global industry; therefore, medicine supply disruptions are not uncommon and can occur for a variety of reasons such as manufacturing issues or increases in demand.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) leads on the maintenance of medicine supply chains to the UK and works closely with the devolved administrations, including my Department, the UK medicines regulator and other operators within the supply chain. Through national and local medicine shortage management groups, my Department is updated on any anticipated upcoming supply disruptions.

If there is a medicine supply disruption, there are well established tools and processes that can be applied both locally and nationally to ensure patients can have access to the treatments they need. This includes providing healthcare professionals with advice and guidance on the actions they can take to ensure patients can access appropriate treatments. These communications include National Patient Safety Alerts, Medicine Supply Notifications and recommending healthcare professionals registering with the NHS Specialist Pharmacy Service (SPS) medicines supply tool. The SPS medicines supply tool provides up-to-date information on anticipated resupply dates, appropriate alternatives, clinical information and recommended actions to take based on the above advice.

Medicines can also be placed on a list of medicines that cannot be exported from the UK or hoarded. This ensures all medicines within the UK can be made available to patients. Other tools and processes that can be utilised include the importation of medicines from other markets and Serious Shortage Protocols. All these actions have been considered and applied where appropriate to any anticipated upcoming supply disruption.

While there are well established tools and processes that can be applied, I recognise the impact these supply disruptions can have on patients and on Health and Social Care providers in Northern Ireland. Consequently, I had previously written to Wes Streeting MP, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, and Karin Smyth MP, Minister of Health (Secondary Care), highlighting my support for wider collaboration to improve long-term supply resilience across the UK.

DHSC published a document in August 2025, entitled ‘Managing a robust and resilient supply of medicines’ which aims to reduce the frequency of shortages and minimise the impact on patients when they do occur. The document provides examples of collaboration between my Department, the UK Government and others to resolve some recent complex medicine supply disruptions. I welcome the aims of this publication and my Department is committed to working with our partners across the UK to find strategies to improve the security and supply of medicines to the UK.

Additionally, there are commitments within the document to provide the public with more information on medicine shortages. My Department has recently published information for the public on steps they can take if they are experiencing medicine supply disruptions. This information can be found via https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/medicine-shortages.

Finally, my Department has worked with DHSC to develop proposals for amendments to the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 to enable greater flexibilities for pharmacists when dispensing medicines, with a 12-week public consultation period closing on 11th December 2025. These proposals aim to improve patient access to medicines, reduce the burden on healthcare systems and improve person-centred care. While this measure is not expected to resolve all the issues surrounding medicine supply difficulties, it is anticipated that the proposals could provide another tool for pharmacists to improve patient access to their medicines. My Department will work with DHSC to carefully consider next steps.