Urgent action continues to be taken to ensure women across the UK
will be able to more reliably access HRT products.
The Health and Social Care Secretary reiterated his commitment to
address HRT supply issues when he and Madelaine McTernan, head of
the HRT supply taskforce, met with representatives from the
supply, wholesale, and community pharmacy sector today (5
May).
Meeting with Aspen Pharmacare, Besins-Healthcare, Gedeon Richter,
Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Orion, Pfizer, Theramex, Viatris, and
representatives from community pharmacies, the government
confirmed its intention to work with industry to do what is
necessary to fix the HRT supply issue and listen to the
experiences from industry and community pharmacy representatives
and what they think needs to be done to improve the current
situation for patients.
Rising demand has contributed to some of the supply challenges,
but other factors may also impact supply, related to
manufacturing, capacity constraints and commercial decisions. The
Health and Social Care Secretary wanted to understand the issues
facing suppliers and what can be done to address
them.
Health and Social Care Secretary said:
“I want to continue to reassure women that I am listening to
their concerns. Meeting with key stakeholders and suppliers
is one of many steps we are taking to ensure women can access the
HRT they need.
“We will leave no stone unturned in our national mission to boost
supply of HRT. Along with appointing Madelaine McTernan as head
of the HRT supply taskforce to implement lessons learned from the
pandemic, and ensuring prescriptions are issued in shorter cycles
for now, we are working collectively with the sector to urgently
resolve this issue.”
Head of the HRT Supply Taskforce Madelaine McTernan
said:
“The collaborative and constructive discussions today focused on
what action can be taken swiftly to improve the near term
situation as well as ensuring longer term changes to ensure these
key products can continue to be delivered reliably and
efficiently.
“I was heartened by the positive input from all attendees and
look forward to building on this.”
Women’s Health Minister said:
“I know HRT can be a lifeline for women suffering from severe
menopause symptoms.
“We are doing everything in our power to make sure women can
continue to access the HRT they need to continue living their
life, unrestricted by the menopause.”
This comes as last week the Health and Social Care Secretary
issued Serious Shortage Protocols (SSPs) to limit the dispensing
of three HRT products to three months’ supply. This will save
time for patients, pharmacists and prescribers and will even out
distribution of in demand for products such as Oestrogel.
Vaccine taskforce director general Madelaine McTernan was also
recently appointed to spearhead a new HRT supply taskforce,
applying lessons learned from the successful procurement seen
during the Covid vaccination programme to identify ways to
support the HRT supply chain ensuring it can meet both short and
long term demand. Additional members of the vaccine taskforce
will also be redeployed to support this work as the government
doubles down its efforts to ensure women can access high quality
menopause treatment, including HRT.
