Community pharmacies in England dispensed 1.19bn prescription items in the year to March 31, an official report published today has revealed.
The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) said the figure is up 2.5% on the year before and marks the fifth year of upward trend.
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It noted that 11,011 community pharmacies submitted prescriptions over the reporting period, with an average of 108,000 items dispensed per contractor - up 26% on the 85,400 reported in 2016/17.
And it found that there were 87 fewer active community pharmacies in 2025/26 than the previous year, adding that the number “is now at its lowest since 2016/17”.
Fees and payments
The report said drugs and appliance reimbursement costs paid to contractors increased for the seventh consecutive year in 2025/26, reaching £10.8bn compared to £10.4bn the year before.
Contractors were paid £1.76bn in single activity fees (SAFs) over the same period, it added, up 18% on the total for 2024/25.
NHSBSA also said community pharmacies delivered 4.61 million flu vaccinations, with 9,212 pharmacies providing adult jabs and 3,208 providing child flu vaccines.
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And it highlighted that 2.49 million items were issued following Pharmacy First consultations in 2025/26, up 32% on the previous year.
It said the cost of Pharmacy First clinical pathways consultation fees and fixed monthly payments was £123m, while the cost of Minor Illness and Urgent Medicines Supply consultations totalled £47.1m.
The total cost of medicines provided under the Pharmacy First service was £21.2m, it added, a growth of 23% compared to the £17.3m reported in 2024/25.
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According to the report, 12 million new medicine services (NMS) were claimed - 113% more than the year before - but costs only increased by 6.6% to £164m.
It said this was “due to the split between intervention consultations and follow-up consultations”, adding that these are “now counted individually but only attract a reduced fee of £14 per consultation”.
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Consultations provided under the NHS pharmacy contraception service cost £30.8m this year, while the cost of oral contraception supplied through the service totalled £10.6m.
And Covid vaccination fees cost £20.5m in 2025/26, down 62% compared to 2024/25.
It comes after Community Pharmacy England announced that drug price concessions have hit a new record high this month and for the fifth time this year.
