News » Political News » Purchasing risk highlighted in Lords' medicines security inquiry
November 5th 2025
“Pharmacies take all the risk of purchasing medicines without any certainty of the final reimbursement price until a price concession is granted by DHSC, with the majority not announced until the end of month. The current reimbursement system requires review.”
That is a key point highlighted in written evidence from Community Pharmacy England (CPE) to the current House of Lords inquiry into medicines security.
The submission, which reflects the situation in dispensing practice in England, also notes that, typically, there can be 100+ medicines a month affected by supply disruptions and price volatility. The negotiator for community pharmacy in England points out: “[Reimbursement] has not kept up with this, nor with the spiralling cost to supply medicines due to inflationary pressures. A continuous cycle of margin over-delivery and recouping of excess margin through Category M adjustments is impacting the viability of pharmacy businesses as well as the wider supply chain.”
The submission from CPE also notes research showing that one in four pharmacy teams now spends over two hours each day sourcing alternative medicines for patients where shortages occur and that nearly 90 per cent of patients have reported encountering shortages more than once in the previous year.
Like dispensing GPs, community pharmacies often receive little to no advance notice of shortages and must rely on manual stock checks or informal communication via wholesalers.
At the time of writing, there have been two oral sessions, with witnesses from NHS England, the Department of Health and Social Care, Office for Life Science and former DHSC chief pharmaceutical officer Dr Keith Ridge, now representing The Centre for Long Term Resilience (CLTR).
The inquiry has also received written evidence from Alliance Healthcare Distribution Ltd (Cencora Alliance Healthcare). Its submission highlights supply chain pressures of sites with a wholesaler dealer’s licence stockpiling or trading medication.
The next session, due to take place today (Wednesday 5 November) will look at incentives or support required to ensure care providers and medicine distributors develop more resilient systems.
