Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had with pharmaceutical suppliers on the supply of Hormone Replacement Therapy medications at (a) Ministerial and (b) official levels since 1 January 2020.

We are aware of ongoing supply issues with some hormone replacement therapy (HRT) preparations due to a range of issues including manufacturing issues, regulatory issues and problems accessing the raw pharmaceutical ingredient as well as commercial decisions made by some companies to divest these products. Although some HRT products are affected by supply issues, supplies of other alternative HRT products remain available.

We regularly update the National Health Service on the supply situation and availability of HRT products and are continuing to engage with organisations such as the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare and the British Menopausal Society. As part of this engagement, in November 2019 the British Menopausal Society with the support of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists published clinical guidance to aid prescribing during this time.