From the Ministerial
Correspondence
A black background with white and Public Enquiries Unit
text<br><br>Description automatically
generated 39 Victoria Street
London
SW1H 0EU
 
   
Our ref: DE-1535162  
   
  28 January 2025
Dear Ms Bassett,

Thank you for your correspondence of 2 October about the supply of
pethidine. I have been asked to reply and I sincerely apologise for the
delay in doing so.

I was very sorry to read of your health problems, and of the experience
you describe. I appreciate your concerns.

This Government has inherited ongoing global supply problems that continue
to impact medicine availability. The Department knows how frustrating and
distressing this can be for patients and is working closely with industry,
the NHS, manufacturers and other partners in the supply chain to resolve
issues as quickly as possible to make sure patients can access the
medicines they need.

Medicine supply chains are complex, global and highly regulated and there
are a number of reasons why supply can be disrupted, many of which are not
specific to the UK and outside of government control, including
manufacturing difficulties, access to raw materials, sudden demand spikes
or distribution issues and regulatory issues. There are around 14,000
licensed medicines and the overwhelming majority are in good supply.

While the Government can’t always prevent supply issues from occurring,
there are a range of well-established processes and tools to manage them
when they arise and mitigate risks to patients. These include close and
regular engagement with suppliers, use of alternative strengths or forms
of a medicine to allow patients to remain on the same product, expediting
regulatory procedures, sourcing unlicensed imports from abroad, adding
products to the restricted exports and hoarding list, use of Serious
Shortage Protocols (SSPs), and issuing NHS communications to provide
management advice and information on the issue to healthcare professionals
including pharmacists, so they can advise and support their patients.

The Department was aware of a supply issue affecting pethidine 50mg
tablets, which has now been resolved. Advice on management options for
patients during this time was communicated to NHS healthcare
professionals.

If a patient is concerned about their treatment, they should discuss this
with their clinician at the earliest opportunity.

Your correspondence has been handled as an enquiry. Information on how to
submit a valid freedom of information request can be found at
[1]https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/offici....

I hope this reply is helpful.

Yours sincerely,

Correspondence Officer
Ministerial Correspondence and Public Enquiries
Department of Health and Social Care

Please do not reply to this email. To contact the Department of Health and
Social Care, please visit the [2]Contact DHSC section on GOV.UK
 

 
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39 Victoria Street, London SW1H 0EU

✉[email address]

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Dear Sir/Madam,
I am writing to you as you have recently contacted the Department of
Health and Social Care (DHSC). DHSC regularly conducts research about its
services to understand how they can be improved to meet your needs.
We’d like to invite you to take part in a survey. We will use the findings
from the survey to improve our digital services and communications.
About the survey
Purpose: 
The goal of the survey is to better understand the overall experience of
how people contact and correspond with DHSC.
Survey topic: 
The survey will cover:  

• your experiences corresponding with DHSC
• the outcomes of their correspondence
• how people contacted DHSC and the timeframes involved
• how people might contact DHSC in the future
• opportunity to be invited to future DHSC correspondence research

Estimated time for completion:
The survey will take around 5 to 10 minutes to read and complete.
Taking part in the survey
If you’re interested in taking part in the survey, click the following
link:
[1]https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponseP...
If you have any questions, please contact the DHSC project team at [email
address]. 
Kind regards,

Millie Pritchard

Product and Delivery Manager
MCPE Digital Innovation

39 Victoria Street, London SW1H 0EU

✉[email address]

This e-mail and any attachments is intended only for the attention of the
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From the Ministerial Correspondence
and Public Enquiries Unit
A black background with white text<br><br>Description
automatically generated 39 Victoria Street
London
SW1H 0EU
 
   
Our ref: DE-1571680  
   
  10 March 2025
Dear Ms Bassett,

Thank you for your further correspondence of 30 January about the supply of pethidine. I have been
asked to reply and I apologise for the delay in doing so.
  
I appreciate your continuing concerns.

The Department is aware of supply issues with pethidine 50mg tablets with one supplier currently
expecting resupplies week commencing 31 March 2025. However, an alternative supplier of pethidine 50mg
tablets remains in stock and is able to support the market.

Your correspondence has been handled as an enquiry. Information on how to submit a valid freedom of
information request can be found at [1]https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/offici....

I hope this reply is helpful. 
  
Yours sincerely, 
  
Correspondence Officer
Ministerial Correspondence and Public Enquiries
Department of Health and Social Care

Please do not reply to this email. To contact the Department of Health and Social Care, please visit
the [2]Contact DHSC section on GOV.UK

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would like to provide feedback, please could you do so via the following link,
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This feedback will be collected anonymously and can be submitted until Monday 31 March 2025.
 
 

 
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Care. Please note: Incoming and outgoing email messages are routinely
monitored for compliance with our policy on the use of electronic
communications.

References

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