Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment has he made of the adequacy of the availability of hormone replacement therapies.

There have been no specific discussions. However, the Department regularly engages with NHS England at a regional and national level on the supply of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) medicines to ensure appropriate management plans are put in place where there are supply issues and to minimise any impact to patients. The Department also meets regularly with individual suppliers to discuss the supply position, identify issues and take action to address them. We are also holding quarterly roundtables with HRT manufacturers, wholesalers and community pharmacists to monitor progress and agree what more needs to be done to ensure supply is sufficient to meet demand.

Access to high-demand products has improved since actions have been taken by industry with our support, as well as the issuance of Serious Shortage Protocols (SSPs) for some HRT products facing supply issues to limit dispensing to three months’ supply to even out distribution and allow specified alternative products to be supplied, as necessary. 21 SSPs for HRT products have been issued since April 2022. The majority of these have been withdrawn as supply issues have been resolved and only five SSPs remain in place.