Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the informal consultation with stakeholder representative bodies on changes to the Human Medicines Regulation 2012 to ensure the continuity of supply of medicines (including in a no deal Brexit), which stakeholders his Department approached for response to that consultation; and what the selection criteria were for those organisations.

The Department consulted stakeholder representative bodies representing pharmacists, doctors, patient groups and the pharmaceutical industry and asked those bodies to share the consultation as they saw fit. A total of 47 responses were received.

The main benefit of a serious shortage protocol is that patients continue to have access to treatment without undue delays. In addition, the Department expects that where a protocol is in place, it will reduce pressure on general practitioners because they do not have to see all patients to issue a new prescription. For pharmacists, whilst a protocol would likely increase their workload, it would also reduce pressure as pharmacists would not need to liaise with GPs every time they get a prescription. Protocols for therapeutic or generic equivalents will not be suitable for all medicines and patients. A protocol will therefore free up GP time to spend for the patients who most need it.