Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to give patients access to information on stock levels of ADHD medication at high street pharmacies; and whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of giving patients access to the Medicines Supply Tool.

There were 10,558 community pharmacies in England on 29 February 2024, including 405 distance selling pharmacies. These contractors are independent private businesses contracted to provide services within the National Health Service. While the Department does not monitor their stock levels, it does have a role in managing supply at a national level to help ensure stocks are available from manufacturers to meet demand from patients across the country. We are often made aware of supply issues. Thankfully the vast majority can be managed with no impact to patients.

We work with the industry, the NHS, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and others working across the supply chain to manage issues and we provide guidance for health care professionals about medicines that are experiencing supply issues on how to manage patients during a disruption where necessary.

The Medicine Supply Tool is designed to provide information and guidance for healthcare professionals, rather than members of the public. However, a public-facing page on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder medicine supply is available at the following link:

https://www.sps.nhs.uk/articles/prescribing-available-medicines-to-treat-adhd/

Any patient who is worried about the supply of their medication should speak to their clinician, in the first instance.