Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the adequacy of provision for estradiol gel in the last 12 months.

There are over 70 hormone replacement therapy (HRT) products available in the United Kingdom and the vast majority are in good supply. We are regularly engaging with individual suppliers to prevent and mitigate supply issues in the short and long term. The HRT supply position has improved considerably since last Spring. Suppliers’ responses to our calls for action to boost production in response to growing demand are having an effect. For example, the introduction of a new manufacturing facility for Oestrogel® has meant that this product is now readily available for patients. Only two of the 22 Serious Shortage Protocols (SSPs) issued since April last year remain as the supply disruptions with most products experiencing shortages have been resolved.

Due to an increase in demand last year, there were intermittent supply issues with estradiol gel presentations. Six SSPs were issued for Oestrogel® 0.06% gel and Sandrena® 0.5mg and 1mg gel sachets to allow for switching and limiting the volumes dispensed. These SSPs expired on 30 November 2022 and 12 May 2023 respectively, as supply had stabilised.

We are aware of an issue with Utrogestan (progesterone) 100mg capsules, which will be in intermittent supply until late 2023. The supplier is taking steps to increase supply and we continue to work closely with them to monitor and drive progress. In the meantime, we have issued a Serious Shortage Protocol which allows pharmacists to dispense a maximum of two months’ supply per prescription, to help support access to available stock.