← European Medicine Shortage Tracker
3 medicines currently affected according to NHSBSA Serious Shortage Protocols (UK) · updated 7 August 2026
7 product-level reports are open, 0 of them newly filed in August 2026. The longest-running open case is Pancrelipase, reported on 2024-05-23 — about 27 months ago.
How to read this register: The UK list covers Serious Shortage Protocols (SSPs) — the shortages severe enough that DHSC formally authorises pharmacy-level substitution — current and historical. The NHS's full internal supply tool is access-controlled, so SSPs are the official public signal.
The UK's public shortage signal is the Serious Shortage Protocol: when DHSC declares one, community pharmacists may supply a specified alternative quantity, strength, form or product without sending the patient back to the prescriber — the mechanism behind the HRT and antibiotic episodes of recent years.
Routine supply problems travel through access-controlled NHS channels (Medicine Supply Notifications via the Specialist Pharmacy Service), so the public SSP list understates the day-to-day picture; price-concession lists offer an economic proxy for what community pharmacy cannot buy at tariff.
Since leaving the EU regulatory system, Great Britain licenses medicines separately (MHRA), so UK supply does not automatically track EU availability in either direction — one reason this tracker lists the UK beside, not inside, the EU registers.
The UK entries here are Serious Shortage Protocols — the officially declared shortages where the Department of Health authorises pharmacists to supply a specified alternative without a new prescription. If your medicine has an active SSP, ask your pharmacy directly; for anything else, UK-wide supply notices are managed through the NHS and your pharmacist sees them first. MobiDoctor provides online consultations to patients in the EU. Never stop a treatment on your own — confirm any switch with your pharmacist or prescriber.
Searched locally as: medicine shortages UK, drug shortage UK, out of stock pharmacy.
| Medicine | Status | Reported | Expected end |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ramipril | Shortage | 2026-04-21 | 2026-07-22 |
| Estradiol | Shortage | 2025-04-02 | 2026-07-09 |
| Estradiol | Shortage | 2024-12-18 | 2026-07-09 |
| Estradiol | Shortage | 2024-12-18 | 2026-07-09 |
| Estradiol | Shortage | 2024-12-18 | 2026-07-09 |
| Pancrelipase | Shortage | 2024-05-23 | 2026-07-09 |
| Pancrelipase | Shortage | 2024-05-23 | 2026-07-09 |
| Medicine | Status | Since | Expected end | Reports |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pancrelipase | Shortage | 2024-05-23 | 2026-07-09 | 2 |
| Estradiol | Shortage | 2024-12-18 | 2026-07-09 | 4 |
| Ramipril | Shortage | 2026-04-21 | 2026-07-22 | 1 |
As of 7 August 2026, 3 medicines have open availability reports in NHSBSA Serious Shortage Protocols (UK), covering 7 product-level entries. 0 new reports were filed in August 2026.
NHSBSA Serious Shortage Protocols (UK) — this page aggregates it daily and links every entry back to the official record. The UK list covers Serious Shortage Protocols (SSPs) — the shortages severe enough that DHSC formally authorises pharmacy-level substitution — current and historical. The NHS's full internal supply tool is access-controlled, so SSPs are the official public signal.
An SSP is a formal DHSC declaration that a medicine is in serious shortage. While it is active, your community pharmacist can supply the alternative the protocol specifies — a different quantity, strength, form or product — without a new prescription, and it is dispensed and reimbursed as if prescribed.
The causes overlap heavily — the same concentrated global manufacturing supplies both — but the systems are separate: MHRA licensing and NHS supply management run independently of EU mechanisms, so a medicine can be fine in the UK and short in the EU or the reverse. That is why this tracker shows UK SSPs as their own register.
Newsrooms and health sites may embed the live United Kingdom shortage count — free, with attribution:
<iframe src="https://www.mobidoctor.eu/medicine-shortages/country/uk/embed.html" width="100%" height="130" loading="lazy" style="border:1px solid #e1e0d9;border-radius:12px" title="Medicine shortages in United Kingdom"></iframe> <p style="font-size:12px">Source: <a href="https://www.mobidoctor.eu/medicine-shortages/country/uk/">Medicine shortages in United Kingdom — European Medicine Shortage Tracker</a> by MobiDoctor</p>