University of Southampton researchers Dr Natasha Campling and Professor Sue Latter are featured in the recent House of Lords Public Services Committee report Medicines security: a national priority, published in February 2026. The Committee’s report underscores medicines security as a national priority and calls for stronger oversight, improved supply chain resilience, and better coordination across the health system. It also examines the challenges facing medicine supply and access across the UK, significantly drawing on written evidence submitted by Dr Campling and Professor Latter.

Their written submission, made on behalf of the ActMed Study team and supported by Public Policy|Southampton, emphasised the importance of reliable access to medicines for people nearing the end of life, highlighting evidence showing how supply issues affect patients, carers and community health professionals. Specifically, their end-of-life focus is a distinctive thread running through the final report, which sharpened the attention to the human cost of shortages, particularly for the most vulnerable patients.

The report also reflected several of their key findings and recommendations, including calls for improved real-time stock information for frontline pharmacists, better-coordinated communication between manufacturers, wholesalers and the NHS, reform of medicines pricing and reimbursement, and greater flexibility for pharmacists to manage shortages. Their evidence helped bring the human cost of medicines shortages into sharp focus, ensuring that the needs of people at the end of life were central to the Committee’s recommendations.

The ActMed Study has investigated how different service delivery models affect timely access to medicines in the community, highlighting barriers such as inconsistent stock levels, communication gaps, and the need for better integration of community pharmacists and nurse prescribers. Their evidence stressed that access to essential medicines is not only a clinical necessity for symptom control but also a key factor in reducing distress and unplanned healthcare admissions.

Professor Sue Latter, Principal Investigator (PI) of the ActMed Study, reflected: “Including an evaluation of the supply chain of medicines into community pharmacy in the ActMed study was an important part of understanding patients’ and healthcare professionals’ experience of accessing palliative care medicines in the community. Public Policy Southampton were important in enabling us to contribute to the Report – through their awareness of our research and ability to proactively link us to the call for evidence.”

Professor Latter also leads the Medicines Management Research Group within the School of Health Sciences, with a long-standing research portfolio in medicines optimisation, prescribing, and health services delivery. Dr. Campling, Associate Professor in Palliative and End of Life Care, within Health Sciences, was Principal Investigator of the recently completed ParAid study, which sought to evaluate paramedic delivered end-of-life service provision. This was work that, with Professor Latter, received coverage on the BBC and culminated in a policy brief .  Additionally, Dr Campling and Professor Latter’s work informed a Parliamentary Office of Science & Technology (POST) note related to palliative and end-of-life care, extending the reach of their research into wider health and social care policy arenas. Dr Campling commented on the House of Lords report:

“We are pleased to see that the Report clearly recognises our key finding that medicine shortages cause considerable unnecessary workload for community pharmacy, as well as potential financial loss and stress. The Report reinforces our call to formalise collaboration between supply chain stakeholders such as community pharmacists, manufacturers and wholesalers, and utilise two-way digital systems to ensure accurate real-time information sharing including regarding current stock availability.  This is crucial to enabling supply chain players to take collaborative and appropriate actions to prevent shortages occurring in the first place.”

The inclusion of Dr Campling and Professor Latter’s contributions in the recent House of Lords report underscores the national significance of research conducted at Southampton, and its relevance to ongoing policy discussions about medicines security and equitable access to care.  It also highlights the University’s contribution to debates on healthcare delivery, community pharmacy integration, and support structures for vulnerable populations.

If you are an academic wanting to increase the policy impact of your work, please reach out to publicpolicy@soton.ac.uk. To receive updates about policy opportunities, you can sign up to be a Public Policy|Southampton member.

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