Medicine shortages: official notices
Is your HRT, testosterone or GLP-1 medicine under an official UK shortage notice? We read the NHSBSA's Serious Shortage Protocols and the DHSC and MHRA alerts, and list what covers each product, with the dates and a link to the notice itself.
One product is under a current official notice: Estradot.
These are official notices, not stock levels.
Most shortages never get a protocol or an alert, so no notice here doesn't mean your pharmacy has it, and a notice doesn't mean it's gone everywhere. Ask your pharmacist. Don't change your dose or swap products yourself: under a shortage protocol the pharmacist decides what can be supplied instead, and your prescriber decides anything beyond that.
HRT
Testosterone (TRT)
GLP-1 medicines
What the notices mean
A Serious Shortage Protocol (SSP) is issued by the Department of Health and Social Care when a medicine is in serious shortage. While it's in force, a community pharmacist in England can supply a set alternative or a smaller quantity, as the protocol spells out, without going back to your prescriber. A supply alert (a National Patient Safety Alert or a Medicine Supply Notification) tells the NHS how to manage a shortage. Neither says how much stock there is.
Sources
- Serious Shortage Protocols (SSPs), NHSBSA Copyright 2026. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
- Alerts, recalls and safety information (MHRA and DHSC, gov.uk, OGL v3.0): supply-related items only.
- Past DHSC alerts and supply notifications, checked by hand, each linked to where it was published.
Checked 7 November 2026. We re-read the sources every 6 hours.