By Bruce Warner, Chair of the RPS Medicines Shortages Advisory Group

As chair of the advisory group established by the RPS to support the work of the project examining the causes of medicines shortages, I have been delighted to see the level of engagement with the project team over the past few months.

Engagement from the pharmacy profession

The engagement from within the profession has been extensive and only highlights how important this issue is to pharmacy teams and patients. Through a series of online engagement webinars, roundtable events and one-to-one meetings, the team have heard not only about the many challenges teams face but innovative ways pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and the wider pharmacy team are helping manage shortages at a local level, with suggested potential solutions for the future.

Wider engagement with stakeholders

Wider engagement with medical colleagues, manufacturers, wholesalers, and government representatives, to name but a few, have all helped paint a picture of a multifaceted problem, which I’m certain will be no surprise to you. What has been so encouraging is the enthusiasm and real drive to see improvements as part of a whole system approach to improve access to medicines for patients.

Patient feedback and experiences

Perhaps some of the most important feedback and stories we have heard, is those from patients themselves. The team have been grateful to have reached so many patients and collate real data on their experiences of obtaining medicines when in short supply. We have heard some of the real difficulties patients have experienced in trying to source certain medicines and the significant impact this has had on themselves and their loved ones. What has been so important, is to hear from patients themselves what things would have improved their experience and the changes they would like to see in the future.

Second Advisory Group meeting

I was once again pleased to chair the second meeting of the advisory group recently, which is helping to inform the project and shape recommendations for the future. The spirit of collaboration, openness, and desire to work towards a solutions-based approach at all levels of the supply chain was evident. The group were updated by the project team at the RPS around other emerging work in this area together with engagement to date, with very clear and consistent themes emerging from the research undertaken. The substantial work that currently happens to mitigate shortages was acknowledged, together with the tremendous work and impact on pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and wider members of the team when trying to source medicines.

I’m certain if I say discussions focused around areas including, communication and timely information, medicines reimbursement, supply chain resilience, consistency for patients in how shortages are dealt with, using and sharing data more intelligently and utilising the clinical skills of pharmacists to make minor amendments to prescriptions, you will not be surprised. Whilst this list is certainly not exhaustive, I’m really looking forward to the recommendations the group develop for future collaborative action and how these are taken forward to begin to make a difference.

If you have engaged with the project team to date, whether that has been through attending member webinars or contributing to roundtable discussions, I would like to thank you personally. If you’d still like to get in touch with the project team, email [email protected]. 

Read more about our investigation into medicines shortages.

Read more RPS blogs.