Mapping a complex global supply chain
Ensuring patients have reliable access to essential medicines is a critical component of a safe, effective and resilient healthcare system.
This report outlines how medicines reach patients in Great Britain, describing the end‑to‑end supply chain from global sourcing and manufacturing through to prescribing, dispensing and final supply. It highlights the extent to which the UK relies on complex international networks, operating within tight regulatory and economic constraints, and illustrates how disruption at any point can have rapid and widespread consequences.
It is intended to support informed policy discussion on how medicines supply resilience
can be strengthened in the interests of patients, the NHS and wider public health.