NHS England: Heraeus Medical – bone cement products (18 February 2026)

Summary

This letter from NHS England provides an update on a significant disruption that has emerged in relation to the supply of bone cement products sold by Heraeus Medical.

A packaging fault temporarily halted production at Heraeus’ main production site. Whilst production has now restarted, product availability will be impacted for at least two months. The update advises that stock already in the UK supply chain may be sufficient for ~two weeks’ supply, at normal ordering volumes, beyond this there will be a period of six-eight weeks’ gap in supply.

Content

The update includes the following actions for NHS organisations:

• Trusts and Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) should work to ensure available supply is focused on higher risk activities (for example urgent care and Trauma provision). Where use of a specific type of products is necessary. Trusts should review and clinically prioritise waiting lists and types of activity to maximise use of available stock, based on patient need, staff preference, training on alternative products and scarcity of supply.
• Trust and ICBs should proactively have conversations with Independent Sector (IS) providers in their area to ensure bone cement resources are prioritised for those patients within the clinical priority list above. ICB colleagues are asked to support and coordinate mutual aid where required.
• Clinicians should determine if the available alternatives are suitable, working closely with procurement colleagues and wider trust leadership. Any decisions to substitute products (as an interim measure or longer term) should be grounded in evidence‑basd practice and patient safety and informed by a documented risk assessment.
• Trusts should consider how to utilise any additional theatre time that is released, if arthroplasty or other elective procedures are not possible given lack of Heraeus products.
• Trust colleagues are asked to share this information with relevant teams in your organisation who may be affected by the supply disruption, for example: theatre leads, anaesthetic leads, surgical teams, and trauma and orthopaedic leads.
• Trusts are also asked to ensure transparent and timely communication with patients, particularly in circumstances where treatment waits may be extended or scheduled surgery requires rearrangement. It is essential that patients are kept fully informed of any changes to their care pathway.