The wholesaler distributes products with long shelf lives “in most cases”, a spokesperson told C+D.

“However, in some instances – due to manufacturer supply – there may be reason to provide goods with a shelf life of less than six months”, they said.

Alliance’s standard operating procedures allow it to supply products with “three months’ shelf life, and sometimes lower for items such as bread and feeds”, it said.

“In the interest of patient needs, we can supply products with at least three months’ shelf life to allow three-month prescriptions to be fulfilled,” the spokesperson explained.

 

Short-dated stock

 

A West-London based community pharmacy dispenser claimed to C+D last week they had received multiple short-dated products in their recent deliveries from Alliance Healthcare.

In early February, Alliance delivered “several different lines with a shorter date than what we had on our shelves”, the dispenser claimed. 

They questioned how these deliveries of short-dated stock were serving patients’ needs.

One of the dispenser’s patients phoned the pharmacy after discovering that the second of two packs of a contraceptive pill she had been supplied “would be out of date before she finishes them” as they were due to expire in May 2022, they claimed.

 

HDA standards      

 

C+D contacted the Healthcare Distribution Association to gain an understanding of other wholesalers' policies.

HDA members take a number of steps to avoid short-dated products entering the supply chain, it said, such as “checking expiry dates when goods are received and rejecting stock which has less than six months’ shelf life”.

The HDA’s shelf-life procedures dictate that “stock with a shelf life of six months or more should routinely be treated as normal stock” by its members.

Meanwhile, products with less than six months' shelf life are made available on “rare occasions”, such as “during industry stock shortage[s]”, the wholesaling body said.

In the case of a severe industry stock shortage, an HDA member would contact their customer to inform them “that this product has a short shelf life and ask if they would accept it, as there was no other product available,'' an HDA spokesperson told C+D.

“But this would only happen in exceptional circumstances”, they continued.

In those cases, “it may be appropriate for these products to be accepted on a sale or return basis after prior agreement with the manufacturer concerned”, the HDA said.

Wholesalers should supply “products with no less than three months’ expiry date” to outbound customers “unless in short supply, under contract, or sale return agreement between HDA UK member company and pharmacist”, it said.

Major wholesaler AAH follows the HDA’s member standards with short-dated stock, a spokesperson confirmed last week (February 4).