Whilst this has not been widely publicised, a few minor amendments to the NHS Pharmaceutical Services Regulations in England were introduced on 1st October 2026. Some of these changes are only relevant to pharmacy contractors in certain circumstances, whilst others will affect all pharmacy owners.

The most relevant changes are briefly summarised as follows:

  • Regulation 31 (which can lead to the refusal of applications where there is an existing pharmacy at the proposed premises or next door) no longer applies to Change of Ownership applications. This appears to be a response to a number of refusals over the last couple of years in circumstances where owners wished to transfer a pharmacy from one company they owned to another. Whilst these refusals were generally overturned at appeal, it is clear there was confusion within ICBs around how Regulation 31 applied in those circumstances.  This change takes away any ambiguity.
  • Rules have been introduced to limit the circumstances where a pharmacy contractor can dispense prescriptions that have been written by a prescriber employed by that contractor. This appears to be a measure intended to reduce the risk of fraudulent activity.   Where dispensing takes place in these circumstances outside an appropriate service, NHS England will withhold payment for that supply.
  • When making any type of market entry application there is no longer a need to provide a floor plan, or to state whether or not the applicant or premises are accredited to provide the Advanced or Enhanced services listed in the application. Application forms have not yet been updated to reflect these changes, so we expect NHS England to push back and claim there is ‘missing information’ if this information is not provided until such time the forms are amended.
  • The Regulations have also addressed the requirement to have explicit consent from the patient or the patient’s representative to change EPS nominations. This appears to address the challenges pharmacy owners are facing with regard to bulk transfer of EPS nominations.
  • Regulations have now formally been introduced to permit closures for up to 4 hours per month to provide training. However, these changes do not actually come into force until 1st January 2027.   We will provide further details about the rules around training closures shortly.
  • Another change included in these amendments, but that also does not come into force until 1st January, is the requirement for all professional staff to have a valid Enhanced DBS check that has been completed within the last 3 years.

If you would like any further information about any of these changes please contact us.