Guidance

Reporting to the National Supply Disruption Response (NSDR)

Information on how to request assistance from the NSDR.

From:
Department of Health and Social Care
Published
31 December 2020
Last updated
11 February 2025 — See all updates

The National Supply Disruption Response (NSDR) is the single point of contact for the UK’s health and care system and medical supply industry in the event of medical supply disruption that may require national support to help mitigate the impact on patients and/or service delivery. 

A UK-wide service, the NSDR works with health and care providers, manufacturers and wholesalers and system partners to help mitigate any impact to patients and/or service provision. Established systems already exist for responding to serious supply disruption of medical products, and you should employ these ‘business as usual’ channels within your organisation or industry to respond to and resolve issues before contacting the NSDR.

Contacting the NSDR

If you are experiencing, or anticipating, a medical product supply disruption that may require NSDR support, please contact the NSDR as early as possible. This includes notifying the NSDR of any product discontinuations to any part of the UK that may impact upon patient care.

The NSDR call centre can be reached between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday (except on bank holidays) on:

  • 0800 915 9964 (freephone in the UK)
  • +44 (0)20 7972 1071 (from outside the UK)

When you report issues to the NSDR, we will ask for detailed information to help our teams determine the most appropriate response. Any organisation or company that reports a supply disruption to the NSDR is classed as the ‘originator’ and will be kept informed of case investigation and management progress for the duration of the disruption.

The NSDR can offer support with supply disruption for any type of medical product. However, medicine suppliers have a statutory duty to notify the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) of any anticipated supply shortage or discontinuation. Notifications can be submitted via the DaSH reporting portal.

Express Freight Service

The NSDR has access to the Express Freight Service, which provides bespoke, global logistics solutions in the event of critical disruption and operates on a 24-hour daily basis. Suppliers are responsible for payment of carriage and are required to be registered before they can access the service. 

Register with the Express Freight Service.

Updates to this page

Published 31 December 2020
Last updated 11 February 2025 + show all updates

  1. Updated to promote earlier contact with the NSDR in a disruption response situation.

  2. Amended the opening times of the National Supply Disruption Response (NSDR) call centre to 9am to 5pm (previously it was 9am to 6pm).

  3. Updated Express Freight Service registration link as DHSC has switched to a new provider.

  4. Updated language used from 'how to report' to 'how to request assistance' to describe the service more accurately.

  5. Updated contact details for the service and clarified steps to take when contacting the service. Added information on the Express Freight Service (EFS).

  6. Updated to remove reference to the transition period and other out-of-date content.

  7. Removed reference to '24/7' from the NSDR call centre.

  8. First published.

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