News » Conference news, DDA news » DDA24: Do pharmacy closures mean more dispensing patients?
October 7th 2024
Can dispensing GPs in England add dispensing patients following a pharmacy closure?
That was a question discussed at the DDA 2024 Conference in the presentation, Sub-contracting your dispensing service, pharmacy closures and PNAs -opportunities or threats?
To answer delegates, PCC adviser Charlotte Goodson said that this scenario will depend on whether you have historic dispensing rights or outline consent to dispense.
Practices in England and Wales with outline consent to dispense to a specified area will find it does not cover the area that is within 1.6km of the pharmacy that has closed, and thus, they cannot dispense to those patients.
Practices in England with historic rights (ie dispensing before 1 April 1983) you will need to ensure that the patients who live within the area that is within 1.6km of the pharmacy that has closed meet one or more of the conditions set out in regulation 48 of the NHS (Pharmaceutical and Local Pharmaceutical Services) Regulations 2013.
Pharmacy closures were also discussed in the context of Pharmaceutical Needs Assessments, which will be published again in England by 1 October 2025 and in Wales by 1 October 2026.
In light of recent pharmacy closures, PNAs will be likely to identify gaps in the current local pharmaceutical service offer. However, that does not mean that anyone will apply to meet that need. There have been unprecedented numbers of pharmacy closures, particularly of 100-hour pharmacies and opening a new pharmacy has not proved financially attractive – although buying an existing pharmacy still seems to be, Goodson said.
Between 1 January and 30 June 2024, 135 applications were submitted to open a new pharmacy – but not all are guaranteed to open. Over the same period the number of pharmacies fell by 174.
The presentation also covered hub and spoke dispensing and subcontracting the dispensing service.
View the presentation: Sub-contracting your dispensing service, pharmacy closures and PNAs -opportunities or threats?
