Please see the below notification for your information.
The Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England have been have been made aware of a manufacturing issue from one of our suppliers of Diamorphine 5mg and 10mg injection.
There are currently two suppliers of Diamorphine injection in the UK; Accord and Wockhardt. Recently Accord’s plant in Germany has experienced quality issues and we are working closely with Accord, regulators, and others in the resolution of these issues.
Based on current usage and remaining stock, there is the potential for supplies of Diamorphine 5mg to be depleted week commencing 4th June 2018 and diamorphine 10mg injection week commencing 11th June. Further supplies are currently expected the week commencing 28th June 2018.
- We are working closely with the remaining supplier, Wockhardt, to secure further supplies for the UK market from July. We are also continuing work with Accord to try to resolve the manufacturing issue as soon as possible.
- We have been working with national clinical leads, and specialists to discuss alternatives. The following guidance has been produced by UKMI to help support this supply issue: https://www.sps.nhs.uk/articles/shortage-of-diamorphine-5mg-10mg/
- The recommended alternative is morphine injection and we are also in discussions with all the manufacturers of this product to ensure they can meet any additional demand for morphine injection during this time.
- Further information which you may wish to review include the Patient Safety Alert on high dose morphine and diamorphine http://www.nrls.npsa.nhs.uk/resources/?entryid45=59803
- Also attached is patient information that has been developed by NHS England to support this medicine supply issue.
Recommended Local actions:
- Please order responsibly during this time, in line with historical demand, and do not stock pile to avoid lengthening the stock out period.
- Review and share UKMi clinical guidance and engage with clinical colleagues to review / amend clinical guidance accordingly.
- Morphine 10mg injection will be available to cover the Diamorphine supply issue in June. Please only order extra stock of Morphine as Diamorphine injection becomes unavailable locally and do not stock pile.
- Please cascade this message to all relevant networks in primary care including GPs, pharmacies and palliative care networks.
DHSC and NHSE will continue to work with all stakeholders and provide further updates as available.