A new survey from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is asking pharmacy teams how they receive and respond to medicine supply notifications, as part of efforts to improve how it communicates medicines shortages.

It also seeks to understand how well they are able to source or dispense the alternative medicine suggested, and how well-resourced they feel their organisation is to respond to medicine shortages.

The survey is open to all healthcare professionals until 25 February, and pharmacists can respond online.

How do pharmacists hear about medicine shortages?

The survey asks respondents if they receive the DHSC Medicine Supply Notifications (MSNs) as a PDF via email cascade, or whether they find out about medicines shortages from elsewhere – for example, Community Pharmacy England (CPE), the Specialist Pharmacy Services (SPS) Medicines Supply Tool, or from within their own organisation.

Respondents are also asked to feed back on the SPS medicine supply tool, including how often they use it and how easy it is to use.

What do pharmacists do when they hear about medicine shortages?

It also aims to find out how organisations respond to medicine supply notifications when they are received – for instance, if pharmacies respond by taking a stock assessment of affected medicines, ordering additional stock if available, consulting with prescribers to switch to alternatives, or liaising with other pharmacies.

And it asks how respondents communicate with patients and prescribers about medicine supply issues.

How easy is it to source alternatives during a shortage?

The survey adds: 'In 2024, how often were you able to source or dispense the alternative medicine suggested in the DHSC MSN?'

And it asks about the most common challenges organisations face in sourcing alternative medicines, including:

  • Lack of availability of recommended alternatives
  • Communication delays between healthcare providers
  • Prescription writing or endorsement barriers

The survey also asks: 'Do you feel your organisation has adequate resources and protocols in place to manage medicine supply shortages?'

Healthcare teams have until 25 February to respond to the survey. 

Earlier this week, Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) president Professor Claire Anderson suggested that pharmacists were experiencing 'moral injury' due to medicines shortages.

She said: 'Pharmacy teams want to do everything possible to provide the medicines their patients need, and it’s deeply distressing when they can’t. This sense of "moral injury" – of knowing what patients need but being unable to deliver it due to circumstances beyond their control – is taking a heavy toll on their wellbeing.'

In the most recent RPS workforce wellbeing survey, more than half of pharmacy professionals reported that medicines shortages have impacted their mental health and wellbeing.