Patients in the United Kingdom are experiencing what health leaders are calling some of the most severe NHS medicine shortages on record, affecting drugs ranging from common painkillers to epilepsy medication and hormone replacement therapy. The National Pharmacy Association (NPA), which represents 6,000 independent community pharmacies, has warned the shortages pose a "serious risk to patient safety," with two key drugs — Creon, used by pancreatic cancer and cystic fibrosis patients to digest food, and Estradot, an HRT patch for menopausal women — under emergency shortage protocols for up to two years, the longest such period ever recorded. Factors driving the crisis include supply chain disruption linked to Middle East conflict, manufacturing problems, and the UK's comparatively smaller medicines budget, prompting the NPA to call on the government to establish an urgent taskforce of manufacturers, wholesalers, and clinicians to address the issue.