What's trending, explained.
What's trending, explained.
Women across the UK are being warned that several hormone replacement therapy (HRT) products are in short supply — and the shortages are starting to bite across Europe too.
On October 12, the UK's Department of Health and Social Care issued a medium-impact supply notification: FemSeven Conti transdermal patches (a combination estradiol/levonorgestrel patch used after menopause) will be out of stock until late November 2026. Other 24-hour patches remain available to absorb demand, including Evorel Conti and two Estradot Conti strengths, and the notice went to every pharmacy NHS email address in the country.
That followed an earlier move: the government extended its Serious Shortage Protocols for Estradot patches — which let pharmacists substitute an alternative product without a new prescription — all the way to January 8, 2027, making it one of the longest-running drug shortage measures in British history. Meanwhile in Spain, hundreds of thousands of women have struggled for months to get Lenzetto, an estradiol spray; that single shortage drove demand onto patches and gels that couldn't absorb it, creating supply problems across Evopad, Estradot, and Bijuva in Spain and other European countries. Spain's health secretary Javier Padilla told Euronews the situation should start easing in November, though the timeline is still uncertain.
HRT demand has surged. In the UK, more than 500,000 prescriptions are now issued monthly, roughly double the volume of a few years ago, as awareness campaigns encouraged more women to seek help for menopause symptoms. Manufacturing capacity simply hasn't kept pace — and hormone patches in particular are made by a small number of suppliers, so when one product falters, substitutes get overwhelmed in a domino effect.
Clinicians are frank about the human cost. Dr Ursula Mason, chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners in Northern Ireland, said being switched to a substitute "can cause real anxiety for patients" — especially when a woman has found a formulation that works. Olivier Picard, chair of the National Pharmacy Association, called the extended shortages "deeply depressing" and renewed demands for a dedicated medicines-shortage taskforce. Women's health GP Dr Nikki Ramskill advised patients not to ration patches or cut doses on their own, while hormone specialist Dr Louise Newson questioned why shortages of women's medicines don't get the same urgency as, say, an insulin shortage.
Supplies are expected to improve from November in Spain, and alternative patches remain on shelves in the UK. But full normalization may take longer, and doctors expect the pressure to persist as long as demand keeps climbing.
If your prescription is affected, the official guidance is consistent: don't ration, cut, or switch products without advice. Pharmacists can substitute an equivalent product under the shortage protocols, and if a new formulation isn't managing your symptoms or is causing side effects, speak to your GP or pharmacist about alternatives. Consider talking to a healthcare professional about the options available to you — medicine shortages are a supply-chain problem, but getting the dosing right for your body still needs a clinician's input.