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Paracetamol

Answer

Our priority is to ensure that patients continue to have access to medicines and medical products they need. We are working closely with industry, the National Health Service and others in the supply chain to ensure that precautions are in place to reduce the likelihood of future shortages

The Government continues to hold stockpiles of medicines, including many of those medicines raised in the Rt. hon. Member’s questions, to cope with a range of scenarios, and robust contingency planning continues to ensure that the country is prepared for a possible second peak of COVID-19 infections and the end of the Transition period.

The Essential Medicines Buffer Stock (EMBS) supports the NHS in the event of a pandemic or other health emergency by ensuring the continued availability of medicines that are in routine use within the NHS in the event that the supply chain is interrupted. Volumes of the medicines listed in the EBMS for the requested dates are shown in the following table. The original EMBS contracts ended in October 2019 and the current ones expire on 31 March 2021.

Volumes in EMBS (packs/singles)	Prior to 31 October 2019	On 15 September 2020
paracetamol_500mg_Caps/Tabs 100 pack	706,072	2,965,503
paracetamol_500mg_Caps/Tabs 100 pack	4,942,506
paracetamol_500mg-Caps/Tabs 100 pack	706,072
paracetamol_125mg suppository 10 pack	3,578
paracetamol_120mg/5ml liquid 100ml single	340,062
paracetamol_250mg/5ml_liquid 100ml single	201,159
paracetamol_500mg_Caps/Tabs 100 pack	706,072
salbutamol_2mg/ml 2.5ml_nebules 20 pack	246,246
Salbutamol_100mcg x 200 dose_MDI single inhalers	3,956,254	2,600,000
ibuprofen_100mg/5ml_liquid 100ml-150ml-500ml (volume in 100ml) singles	230,400
ibuprofren_400mg_Caps/Tabs 84 pack	591,883
amoxicillin_125mg/5ml_liquid 100ml singles	234,925
amoxicillin_125mg/5ml_liquid 100ml singles	234,925
amoxicillin_250mg_Caps/Tabs 21 pack	235,874
amoxicillin_500mg_Caps/Tabs 21 pack	1,714,429
amoxicillin_125mg/5ml_liquid 100ml singles	313,234
Amoxicillin_250mg_Caps/Tabs 21 pack	157,249
Amoxicillin_500mg_Caps/Tabs 21 pack	489,837

In preparation for a potential imminent second wave of COVID-19 and to protect the security of the supply of critical life-saving medicines and patient health across the United Kingdom, a clinically-led assessment of medicines that should be stockpiled was undertaken in May and June 2020 and this was fed into a tender exercise that ran from 24 July to 10 August 2020.

Paracetamol and insulin are amongst the medicines that were identified and tendered for as part of this exercise and we will shortly be awarding contracts to secure supplies of these medicines for the autumn and winter. Details of the tender exercise can be found at the following links:

https://ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NOTICE:355937-2020:HTML:EN:HTML&tabId=1&tabLang=en#id4-VI

https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/b8bf439c-76d1-4fa6-952d-6b65bd659021

With regard to stocks of medicines on UK soil owned and held by suppliers themselves, commercially sensitive information has been shared confidentially with the Department by suppliers of medicines to the UK, to support various contingency programmes. For this reason, we cannot share information received from suppliers, including on their UK stock levels, with third parties.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

90069

Session

2019-21

Related items

Drugs: Coronavirus
Wednesday, 2 December 2020
Written questions
House of Commons

Grouped for answer

Yes

Subjects

Prescriptions Paracetamol

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.parliament.uk