Weekly digest · ISO week 2023-W51
18 Dec 2023 to 24 Dec 2023: UK medicine supply changes
9 items dated 18 Dec 2023 to 24 Dec 2023, each a re-expressed fact linked to its source document. This week is over. Changes are filed by the date the source gives them, so this week can still gain one if a source is captured late. Protocol end dates and expected-back windows are shown as the NHSBSA register and the notices stood when last checked, not as they stood during this week: a later extension or update can move one of them to another week or remove it. Corrections are logged on the corrections page.
Sources are checked twice daily by scheduled jobs (not live). Last checked 2026-10-20 20:54 UTC. England first; Scotland in its own section, never summed. Absence from this page is not availability. Also as Atom and JSON.
New notices · 6
Medicine Supply Notifications and National Patient Safety Alerts dated this week (England).
Updated notices · 0
Notifications whose source post records an update dated this week.
None recorded for this week.
Discontinuations · 1
Discontinuations stated in a notice, dated by the notice or update that states them.
| Date | Record | What the record says |
|---|---|---|
| 21 Dec 2023 | Medicine Supply Notification: Testosterone (Testim® ) 50mg/5g transdermal gel unit dose tubessource document ↗ | Discontinuation notified in MSN/2023/118, dated 21 Dec 2023. |
Expected-back windows ending this week · 2
Notices whose current stated expected-back window ends this week. The end is derived from the phrase: the stated day where the source gave one; six days after a stated week-commencing day; otherwise the 10th for "early", the 20th for "mid" and the last day of the month for "late" or a bare month (six days after it for a "week commencing" phrase with no readable day). The sources mostly give phrases like "late July", not days, so each item says which rule applied.
| Date | Record | What the record says |
|---|---|---|
| 20 Dec 2023 | MSN/2023/107 — Medicine Supply Notification: Rasagiline 1mg tabletssource document ↗ | Expected back "mid-December 2023", as currently stated by the source. That stated window ends by 20 Dec 2023 (the 20th of the stated month, the end this record uses for "mid"; the source gives no day). Reaching it is an observation about the record, not about stock at your wholesaler. |
| 24 Dec 2023 | MSN/2023/099 — Medicine Supply Notification: Bisacodyl (Dulcolax®) 5mg suppositoriessource document ↗ | Expected back "w/c 18th December 2023", as currently stated by the source. That stated window ends by 24 Dec 2023 (six days after the week-commencing day the source stated). Reaching it is an observation about the record, not about stock at your wholesaler. |
Protocols issued, expired or revoked · 0
Serious Shortage Protocols (UK-wide) whose issue, expiry or revocation is dated this week.
None recorded for this week.
Protocols extended · 0
Extensions are dated by the scheduled end they replaced, as the NHSBSA register and announcements record them.
None recorded for this week.
Protocol end dates this week · 0
Protocols whose NHSBSA register end date falls this week, per the register as last checked.
None recorded for this week.
Protocols scheduled to end in the following 14 days · 0
Register end dates from 25 Dec 2023 to 07 Jan 2024. A scheduled end is the register's date, nothing about local stock.
None recorded for this week.
Scotland · 0
NHS Scotland Medicine Supply Alert Notices issued this week — a separate source, never summed with England.
None recorded for this week.
Cite as: “UK medicine supply changes, week 2023-W51 (18 Dec 2023 to 24 Dec 2023), ShortageSignal (shortagesignal.co.uk/digest/2023-W51), by Doctor Data Ltd.” Derived facts CC BY 4.0; source documents belong to their publishers and are linked, not reproduced. A protocol's scheduled end is the NHSBSA register's date and says nothing about local stock. Not an official NHS or DHSC service; not clinical advice.