Medicine shortages are testing Australia's health system and clinicians need national support
By Associate Professor Tom Simpson FANZCAP (Lead&Mgmt)*
Friday, 27 February, 2026
Medicine shortages are no longer isolated supply disruptions. They are escalating and placing persistent pressure on Australia’s healthcare system that is directly affecting clinicians’ ability to deliver timely, safe and effective patient care.
Across hospitals and health services, clinicians are increasingly spending valuable time identifying alternative medicines, adjusting treatment protocols and managing clinical risk when essential medicines become unavailable. While necessary, these activities divert clinical capacity away from frontline care and duplicate effort across services already managing workforce pressures.
The scale of the challenge is significant. Medicine shortages continue to be reported daily across Australia, and workforce data shows almost every hospital and health service now dedicates regular staff time to managing supply disruptions.1 Despite these efforts, clinicians often operate in isolation when responding to shortages, developing local solutions to national problems.
Lessons from the 2023–2024 IV fluid shortage
The need for a coordinated clinical response became particularly evident during the national IV fluid shortage between 2023 and 2024 — a crisis that exposed the fragility of supply chains and the extraordinary lengths clinicians go to maintain patient care.
IV fluids are foundational to modern health care. They are essential for administering medicines, supporting surgery, maintaining hydration and delivering life-saving treatment to critically ill patients. At the height of the shortage, hospitals across Australia were forced to ration supply, delay elective procedures and rapidly modify treatment protocols to preserve limited stock.
Like many clinicians, I witnessed firsthand the pressure this placed on healthcare teams and the crisis also became deeply personal when my wife Catherine, herself a pharmacist, required urgent treatment during this period.
Her experience highlighted how quickly medicine shortages can compound into complex clinical situations requiring additional time, coordination and decision-making. While Catherine was fortunate to receive appropriate care, I was acutely aware that similar situations were unfolding across multiple hospitals simultaneously, with clinicians working tirelessly to identify safe alternatives under considerable pressure.
These experiences reinforced a critical lesson: medicine shortages are not simply supply chain challenges — they are clinical challenges that require coordinated solutions.
A practical solution to support clinicians
Advanced Pharmacy Australia (AdPha) is calling for the establishment of a National Medicine Shortages and Discontinuations Clinical Advice Service. This service would provide real-time, evidence-based guidance to clinicians managing medicine shortages and discontinuations, supporting consistent clinical decision-making across the healthcare system.2
We are seeing similar models implemented internationally; and in Australia, such a service could be administered by specialist Medicines Information pharmacists working collaboratively with clinicians across disciplines.
Importantly, a national clinical advice service would not replace local decision-making. Rather, it would strengthen it by ensuring clinicians have access to trusted, consistent information when responding to shortages that increasingly affect services nationwide.
Strengthening preparedness for an ongoing challenge
While medicine shortages are expected to remain an ongoing challenge globally, it is especially true for Australia because of our geographic isolation and small market size. Strengthening our nation’s system response is therefore critical. It will require investment, collaboration and recognition that supporting clinicians to manage supply disruptions is essential to protecting patient care.
Our healthcare professionals are highly skilled and resilient, but when they are forced to navigate national medicine shortages alone, our patients lose. Establishing coordinated clinical support is a practical and necessary step towards strengthening Australia’s preparedness and safeguarding patient outcomes.
1. Advanced Pharmacy Australia (AdPha), The state of pharmacy: workforce insights 2025 report, November 2025, [Internet] Abbotsford (AU): AdPha;2025. https://adpha.au/publicassets/8049e166-91ca-f011-9151-005056ace2f5/2025-Workforce-Insights-Report.pdf
2. Advanced Pharmacy Australia (AdPha), 2026–27 Federal Budget submission: National Medicine Shortages and Discontinuations Clinical Advice Service, February 2026, [Internet] Abbotsford (AU): AdPha;2026. https://adpha.au/publicassets/7b56bcbf-e406-f111-9156-005056ace2f5/Federal-Pre-Budget-Submission-2026-2027--Part-2---Medicine-Shortages---Australian-Government.pdf
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