To ask the Minister of Health to detail any assessment his Department has made of difficulties faced by community pharmacies in sourcing commonly prescribed medicines, including medicines for pain relief, cardiovascular conditions and blood pressure.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) leads on the maintenance of medicine supply chains to the UK and works closely with the devolved administrations, including my Department, the UK medicines regulator and others in the supply chain to ensure patients have fair and equitable access to treatments across the UK.

I recognise the impact medicine supply shortages can have on patients and community pharmacy teams in Northern Ireland (NI), however, there are over 14,000 licensed medicines in the UK, and the majority are in good supply and are available in sufficient quantities to meet patient needs. Community pharmacies in NI have access to these medicines through numerous pharmaceutical wholesalers and medicine licence holders as part of the UK-wide medicine supply chain. My Department has seen no evidence that patients or community pharmacies accessing medicines in NI are more negatively impacted when compared to other regions of the UK.

However, medicines are manufactured as part of a highly regulated, complex and global industry; therefore, medicine supply disruptions are not uncommon and can occur for a variety of reasons such as manufacturing issues or increases in demand globally.

When a medicine is not available to meet overall patient demand, such as the current supply disruption affecting the pain relief medication, co-codamol 30mg/500mg tablets, there are well-established tools and processes that can be applied to ensure patients have access to appropriate treatments, including but not limited to providing healthcare professionals with advice and guidance on the actions they can take.

Additionally, if NI community pharmacies have concerns about accessing medicines in relation to pricing and reimbursement arrangements but the products remain available to meet overall patient need, these can be raised through the Drug Tariff Liaison Group.