Shutterstock.com
Changes to hub-and-spoke dispensing regulations are expected to be permitted from October 2025, government draft legislation has revealed.
The government has laid draft amendments to the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 (HMR) in parliament as the next step towards introducing hub-and-spoke dispensing between different legal entities, which the draft legislation said will come into force on 1 October 2025.
In a briefing on the changes, published on 30 April 2025, Community Pharmacy England (CPE) said that the actual start date is likely to be 29 October 2025 “at the earliest”, to take account of spoke pharmacies notifying their integrated care board.
The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) initially consulted on two new hub-and-spoke dispensing models — one where the assembled medicine would be sent back from the hub to the spoke for the patient to collect and one where the patient would receive their prescription from the hub.
However, in March 2025, the DHSC confirmed that only the first model — where the medicines are returned assembled from the hub to the spoke pharmacy for supply to the patient — will be permitted.
The draft amendments to the HMR require the spoke pharmacy to have written arrangements with the hub pharmacy; for the dispensing label to include the spoke’s name and address and the date on which the hub assembled, or part assembled, the medicine; and for the spoke to display a notice drawing patients’ attention to the arrangements.
In September 2024, CPE said that it had been told changes to hub-and-spoke legislation would not be implemented in January 2025, as originally planned.
The delay was attributed to the general election in July 2024, when progress on the amendments was paused, CPE said, adding that time was then taken to brief new ministers across all policy areas.
Hub-and-spoke dispensing is currently only allowed between pharmacy locations belonging to the same owner or legal entity — for example, between branches of the same pharmacy company.
A consultation on allowing hub-and-spoke dispensing between different legal entities was held between March and June 2022.
These changes will permit different pharmacy owners to carry out hub-and-spoke dispensing if they comply with the relevant requirements.
Commenting on the legislative changes, Gareth Jones, director of corporate affairs at the National Pharmacy Association, said: “Some independent pharmacies may find hub-and-spoke [dispensing] to be a useful mechanism for releasing time for patient care.
“However, this is certainly no silver bullet as far as pharmacy finances are concerned.
“The medium-to-long-term business case only stacks up for local pharmacies if there is an ongoing pipeline of NHS investment in clinical services, to make productive use of the staff time released.
“We’ll keep an eye out for unintended consequences because this is a substantial change in pharmacy practice that needs to operate safely and efficiently for patients and on a level playing field for contractors.”
