“From June 23, no new DSP applications can be accepted”, Community Pharmacy England (CPE) this week (June 2) announced.
The negotiator told C+D that the regulatory change – which was laid in parliament on Monday – was agreed as part of the sector’s funding deal but has only just been announced.
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It added that the decision was made “for a number of reasons” including that “there are approximately 400 DSP pharmacies currently in operation”.
This “should be more than sufficient for England”, it stressed.
“Threaten” bricks-and-mortars
CPE said that the legislative exemption that previously permitted DSPs to open regardless of local need “initially helped provide a wider choice for patients”.
But “the situation has changed”, it added.
“As many DSP pharmacies are now in place, additional DSP applications are beginning to undermine the integrity of market entry controls,” it said.
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“New ‘local’ DSP pharmacies that establish can undermine the viability of nearby ‘bricks-and-mortar’ pharmacies,” CPE added.
The distance pharmacies also “threaten [bricks-and-mortar] investment in the pharmacy network and the face-to-face provision of currently essential pharmaceutical services they offer to patients,” it said.
Regulation changes
This week’s updates to the 2013 NHS pharmaceutical and local pharmaceutical services (PLPS) regulations have also seen other changes to pharmacy rules.
CPE said that the legislation will see DSPs banned from delivering some services “face-to-face with patients onsite at the distance selling premises” from October 1.
However, “the administration of COVID-19 and flu vaccinations on the DSP premises…continues to be permitted” until March 31 next year, it added.
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The legislation will also make it easier for contractors “to apply to change the dates and times of their core opening hours” from June 23, it said.
And the new regulations have introduced a further two changes – the first allowing pharmacies access to “the central supply of flu vaccinations for children”, the negotiator said.
Read more: DH ‘exploring’ NHS childhood flu jab rollout in pharmacies
“Central supply of these vaccines enables community pharmacies to play a vital role in future public health vaccination programmes according to local patient needs,” it added.
And the final change enables “the automatic cancellation and refund of a pre-payment certificate (PPC) to a person who becomes entitled to a maternity or medical exemption certificate”, it said.
DSP anger
The changes come despite concerns that the banning of DSPs from delivering certain services will “significantly [distort] fair market conditions by favouring bricks-and-mortar pharmacies” - raised by DSPs in April.
That month, the Independent Pharmacy Contractors Network (IPCN) submitted a complaint to the competition watchdog “regarding a suspected anti-competitive agreement between the Department of Health and Social Care (DH) and CPE” in the 2025/26 funding deal.
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“This agreement…will prohibit DSPs from providing enhanced and advanced NHS services onsite from October 2025” and “removes their ability to compete on equal terms despite holding identical NHS contracts to community pharmacies”, it said.
At the time, the government said that it had “not been officially notified of any complaints”.
