Almost 9 out of 10 pharmacies unable to supply aspirin
Nine out of 10 pharmacies (86%) were unable to supply aspirin to their patients in the week commencing 13 January, pharmacy leaders have warned.
The results from a poll by the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) showed pharmacies were tightly rationing supplies of aspirin for those patients with the most acute heart conditions or those in need of emergency prescriptions, amid widespread shortages.
A number have also stopped making aspirin available for over-the-counter sales.
Patients needing a regular supply of dispersible aspirin include those with a history of stroke, heart disease, chronic kidney disease and diabetes.
It is one of the most commonly prescribed drugs in the UK, with 50.9 million items of aspirin prescribed between January 2025 and October 2025.
NPA analysis also shows that the price of aspirin has soared in the last two months due to shortages, with a packet of aspirin 75mg dispersible tablets going from 18p earlier last year to £3.90 this month.
Currently, the NHS will only reimburse pharmacies £2.18 per packet, meaning an average pharmacy will lose £1.72 each time it is dispensed.
NPA chair Olivier Picard said: ‘We’re concerned about reports of pharmacies being unable to order in stocks of aspirin and the implications this might have for the patients they serve.
‘For those pharmacies that can get hold of supply, costs will far exceed what they will be reimbursed by the NHS, yet more signs of a fundamentally broken pharmacy contract in desperate need of reform by the government. The status quo is not only frustrating for patients; it is also dangerous.’
Policy director at Kidney Care UK Fiona Loud said: ‘Where there are potential medicine shortages affecting commonly prescribed items like aspirin, we believe that pharmacists should have leeway to substitute commonly prescribed medications.
‘It is also important that alongside this, there is clear communication from primary care around the medications people are taking, and why any changes are being applied, along with the opportunity for people to ask any questions or raise any concerns they may have.’
The NPA has previously urged the Government to accelerate plans to scrap ‘dangerous and antiquated’ legislation that prevents pharmacists from making substitutions to prescriptions where a prescribed medicine is out of stock.
It has also demanded reform of the ‘broken’ pharmacy contract which leaves many pharmacists dispensing NHS prescriptions at a loss.
In December 2025, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) said that ‘unnecessary bureaucracy’ must not stand in the way of providing patients with access to vital medicines in their response to the government consultation on pharmacist flexibilities.
The consultation, which began in September 2025, proposes allowing pharmacists to use their professional judgement to supply an alternative strength or formulation of a medicine when the original item is unavailable – something pharmacy leaders have long called for.
A version of this article was first published by Pulse’s sister title The Pharmacist
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READERS' COMMENTS [1]
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Don’t you just love these pharmacy stories of doom and gloom – so I just googled over the counter aspirin tabs for sale – Amazon are sold out but Online Pharmacy have packs of 32 X 75mg dispersible aspirin on sale today 28/1/2026 for 0.99p – I am not cracking on about availability – drug shortages usually reflect the big drug companies generic houses running some sort of scam to get NHS to give them more money – no I’m wacking on about the price and pharmacists profit levels. NHS pays pharmacist £2.18 for something that can be sold at 0.99p – that’s one heck of a mark up in anybody’s book? I never understood why inner city GPs have never been allowed to be dispensing GPs – letting inner city GP practices dispense medications would solve the funding inequity between inner city GP practices and better off rural dispensing practices. Job solved, lots of younger GPs will flock to the inner city practices (as they do elsewhere in the western world) because inner city GP practice will be so well paid. Time I went back to sleep.