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The House of Lords Public Services Committee has today launched an inquiry into the causes of medicines shortages in the UK and the effectiveness of current measures designed to address them.

The cross-party group said its inquiry will look in detail at how the Government as well as primary and secondary care providers monitor stock levels and the extent to which the Government can predict problems in the supply before they happen.

The inquiry will also examine how drug procurement policies in primary and secondary care could be improved and how attractive the UK pharmaceutical supply chain is in securing investment for research, manufacturing and supply of medicines.

The committee has invited organisations and individuals who work in the medical supply chain, as well as “people directly affected by medical supply issues”, to submit written evidence by September 23.

It will also hold oral evidence sessions before producing a report on its findings and recommendations early next year. Its chair Baroness Morris of Yardley said the inquiry’s scope will be wide-ranging and examine the impact of natural disasters, international conflicts and disease outbreaks on the UK supply chain.

“Such global issues have the potential to seriously affect the resilience of our medical supply in England and most importantly, potentially damage the health of patients,” she said.

“As a result, we are interested in understanding how effective the current strategies in England are for predicting and preventing supply chain issues across both primary and secondary care, and their future resilience in the face of different challenges and threats.

“We’ll also be looking to hear evidence on any innovative solutions there might be to the issues identified during the course of our inquiry, and how to better predict and prevent any future medicine supply problems.

“Doing this should alleviate pressure on pharmacies, the NHS and also provide better medical care to patients.”

Not the first parliamentary inquiry into medicines shortages

This is not the first parliamentary inquiry into medicines shortages. Last month, the All-Party Pharmacy Group (APPG) said its investigation into supply problems in England revealed persistent disruptions were causing widespread harm to patients, driving operational pressures across the NHS and putting an unsustainable burden on pharmacy teams.

It made 12 recommendations including reforming medicines pricing and reimbursement policies to better reflect market realities, giving pharmacists the ability to substitute dose and formulations during shortages and implementing a UK-wide medicines shortages communication and patient support strategy.

In 2012, after launching a six-month inquiry into shortages, the APPG called for “a renewed sense of urgency” to address the causes of supply issues and challenged the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to improve its regulation and approval process of wholesale distribution authorisations following reports that some licence holders were hoarding medicines and exporting supply out of the UK.

The Healthcare Distribution Association, which represents the biggest pharmaceutical wholesalers in the UK, has consistently said its members have done nothing wrong.

The House of Lords Public Services Committee told Independent Community Pharmacist part of its inquiry will look "at the role the MHRA plays in providing resilience to the medicines supply chain".

"The MHRA have been invited to give written evidence to the Committee and their role will be explored more widely throughout the inquiry," the Committee said, insisting it will invite wholesalers to give written and oral evidence.