Wed 4 February 2026

AdPha highlights medicines shortages at Parliament House summit

AdPha President Assoc. Prof. Tom Simpson FANZCAP (Lead&Mgmt) presented a healthcare perspective on medicine shortages at the GBMA Summit: No Patient Left Waiting, Ending the Era of Medicine Shortages held today at Parliament House in Canberra. 

The solutions-focused summit hosted by GBMA had keynote presentations from Health Minister Mark Butler and Shadow Health Minister Senator Ruston, with various presentations and panel discussions from patient advocacy groups, wholesaler, pharmacy and pharmaceutical industry sectors. The summit will feed into a White Paper to be developed by GBMA on solutions and actions to reduce and mitigate impact of medicines shortages, supporting medicines availability and access.  

Tom talked through in depth the IV fluids shortage that emerged as early as 2023, impacting patients receiving life-saving hospital care and surgery in and around Australian hospitals. IV fluid shortages are essential to acute pharmacy care to administer life-saving medicines, and are utilised every day by specialty pharmacists across Compounding Services, Perioperative and Surgical Medicine, Critical Care, Emergency Medicine, Haematology and Oncology and Infectious Diseases, just to name a few.  

AdPha was the only pharmacy body represented on the National IV Fluid Response Group, represented by Patrick Lam FANZCAP (Lead&Mgmt, MedSupply), Chair of the AdPha Dispensing and Distribution Leadership Committee with members across various Specialty Practice Groups speaking up loudly on the issue. 

"Building supply chain resilience is key to ensuring the quality of healthcare delivery and reducing distress for both patients and practitioners," said Mr Simpson. 

"Our members working in Dispensing and Distribution spend considerable time managing medicine shortages, especially during the IV fluid shortages, often being forced to make tough decisions on how to conserve stock to maintain safe and quality care for all patients.  

"Medicine shortages and discontinuations remain an increasing challenge nationwide, it is past time for action. Hospital clinicians should not be forced to find workarounds on their own to manage shortages, which can lead to inconsistencies in care, potentially putting patient safety and treatment continuity at risk."