Medicine supply disruption statistics, UK: data to June 2026
Published 5 August 2026
© Crown copyright 2026
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/medicine-supply-disruption-statistics-uk-data-to-june-2026/medicine-supply-disruption-statistics-uk-data-to-june-2026
Introduction
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is notified about medicine supply issues or discontinuations primarily through formal reports submitted by pharmaceutical suppliers. These are submitted through DHSC’s online reporting tool, the Discontinuations and Shortages (DaSH) portal, which launched in October 2020.
The portal enables suppliers of medicines supplied to the NHS to meet their statutory obligation to notify DHSC of actual or anticipated disruptions to supply. DHSC’s published reporting requirements outline 2 types of notification:
-
supply issues: where the national supply of a medicine is insufficient to meet patient demand
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discontinuations: where a manufacturer or importer intends to permanently cease supply of a medicine
These definitions apply regardless of whether the disruption affects the whole UK or one or more of the individual UK nations. While DHSC’s responsibility is limited to England, it works closely with the devolved governments to co-ordinate actions that mitigate supply disruptions across the UK where appropriate.
This report presents statistics derived from notifications submitted through the DaSH portal, including the number of medicine supply issue and discontinuation notifications reported. It also includes information on the reported root causes of medicine supply issues, as provided by manufacturers.
These statistics will be published every 6 months as official statistics. These statistics were previously published as an ad hoc publication in August 2025, Managing a robust and resilient supply of medicines: data pack, to support the policy paper Managing a robust and resilient supply of medicines.
Number of DaSH portal notifications
From January to June 2026, there were around 700 supply issue notifications. This is lower than the same period in previous years.
In total in 2025, there were around 1,400 supply issue notifications. This was lower than in 2024 (around 1,900 notifications), as well as 2022 and 2023 (around 1,600 notifications each year).
From January to June 2026, there were around 200 discontinuation notifications. This is aligned with previous years.
In total in 2025, there were around 480 discontinuation notifications. This was higher than in 2024, 2023 and 2022 (around 400 notifications each year).
Table 1 contains the monthly breakdown of the number of supply issue and discontinuation notifications from July 2025 to June 2026. Figures 1 and 2 display the trends over time from 2023 to 2026. Full historical data can be found in table 1 of the accompanying data tables on the Medicine supply disruption statistics, UK: data to June 2026 page.
Table 1: monthly number of supply issue and discontinuation notifications, July 2025 to June 2026
| Month and year | Supply issue notifications | Discontinuation notifications |
|---|---|---|
| July 2025 | 116 | 44 |
| August 2025 | 75 | 32 |
| September 2025 | 88 | 43 |
| October 2025 | 90 | 62 |
| November 2025 | 100 | 48 |
| December 2025 | 85 | 55 |
| January 2026 | 101 | 28 |
| February 2026 | 112 | 32 |
| March 2026 | 150 | 45 |
| April 2026 | 91 | 27 |
| May 2026 | 100 | 12 |
| June 2026 | 133 | 47 |
Figure 1: cumulative monthly number of supply issue notifications reported to the DaSH portal, January 2023 to June 2026
This data can be found in table 1 of the accompanying data tables on the Medicine supply disruption statistics, UK: data to June 2026 page.
Text description for figure 1: a line chart showing the cumulative number of medicine supply issue notifications by month. Each line represents a year (note: 2026 is only until June, while other years are full years). In 2026, there were around 700 supply issue notifications to the end of June, which is lower than the same period in previous years. There were around 1,400 supply issue notifications in total in 2025, 1,900 in 2024 and 1,600 in 2023.
Figure 2: cumulative monthly number of discontinuation notifications reported to the DaSH portal, January 2023 to June 2026
This data can be found in table 1 of the accompanying data tables on the Medicine supply disruption statistics, UK: data to June 2026 page.
Text description for figure 2: a line chart showing the cumulative number of medicine discontinuation notifications by month. Each line represents a year (note: 2026 is only until June, while other years are full years). In 2026, there were around 200 discontinuation notifications to the end of June, which is aligned with previous years. There were around 480 discontinuation notifications in total in 2025 and around 400 in each of 2024 and 2023.
Root causes of UK supply issues
As part of the reporting process through the DaSH portal, suppliers are required to provide information on the root causes of medicine supply issues. The root cause data presented in figures 3 and 4 relates exclusively to supply issues and does not include discontinuations.
Root cause statistics are presented annually to support meaningful analysis of longer-term trends. Monthly trends could produce misleading findings because the relatively small number of notifications within individual root cause categories may result in substantial month-to-month variation.
In 2025, manufacturing problems remained the most commonly reported root cause of supply issues, accounting for 62% of notifications. Legal, regulatory, market and demand factors were reported in 37% of notifications, while logistics-related factors accounted for 5%. Major events were reported in 1% of notifications and are therefore excluded from this analysis.
Figure 3 contains a breakdown of 2024 and 2025 supply issue notifications by root cause category. Note that suppliers are able to select more than one root cause per notification, so percentages may total more than 100%.
Figure 3: root causes (main category) of DaSH supply issue notifications in 2024 and 2025
| Root cause (main category) | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing | 59% | 62% |
| Legal, regulatory, market and demand | 36% | 37% |
| Logistics | 6% | 5% |
Root causes (sub-category) of UK supply issues
Manufacturing problems are wide-ranging. Within the manufacturing category, delays in the supply chain (19%), other manufacturing-related issues (17%) and raw material or packaging (for example, foil and plastic used in packaging for tablets) shortages (13%) were the most frequently reported sub-categories in 2025.
Within the legal, regulatory, market and demand category, customer demand surges (19%) and licensing or regulatory issues (8%) were the most commonly reported causes in 2025.
Figures 4a, 4b and 4c contain the full breakdown of all root cause sub-categories and how they map to the high-level categories. Note that suppliers are able to select more than one root cause per notification, so percentages may total more than 100%.
Figure 4a: manufacturing root causes (sub-category) of DaSH supply issue notifications in 2024 and 2025
| Root cause (sub category) | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Raw material or packaging material shortage | 20% | 13% |
| Manufacturing failure or relocation | 14% | 6% |
| Product recall or quality failure | 4% | 4% |
| Capacity constraints | 2% | 8% |
| Delay in supply chain | 12% | 19% |
| Other manufacturing issue | 9% | 17% |
Figure 4b: legal, regulatory market and demand root causes (sub-category) of DaSH supply issue notifications in 2024 and 2025
| Root cause (sub category) | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Customer demand or surge | 20% | 19% |
| Licensing, regulatory or enforcement | 12% | 8% |
| Other legal, regulatory, market and demand issue | 5% | 12% |
Figure 4c: logistics root causes (sub-category) of DaSH supply issue notifications in 2024 and 2025
| Root cause (sub category) | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Supply chain or transport disruption | 3% | 2% |
| Other logistics issue | 4% | 4% |
About these statistics
These are official statistics published by DHSC twice yearly on medicine supply disruption notifications reported in the UK. This publication includes data to the end of June 2026, with data downloaded from the DaSH portal on 1 July 2026.
The statistics are derived from notifications submitted by pharmaceutical suppliers through DHSC’s DaSH portal. They are designed to support the monitoring of trends in reported medicine supply disruptions over time and should not be interpreted as a measure of actual medicine shortages, patient impact or definite product discontinuations.
Detailed information on the data source, coverage, definitions, methodology, quality assurance processes and limitations is provided in Medicine supply disruption statistics, UK: background and methodology.
If you have any questions in relation to these statistics, contact statistics@dhsc.gov.uk.