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Applications to run an NHS distance-selling pharmacy (DSP) surged to a record high in June 2025 after prospective contractors were given three weeks’ notice of market closure, according to NHS England data.
Data obtained by The Pharmaceutical Journal under a Freedom of Information request show that NHS England received 206 applications for new DSPs in June 2025, compared with just 6 in May 2025, which represents an 3,333% increase.
The market closure was announced on 2 June 2025, when legislation was laid before Parliament, giving prospective contractors just three weeks’ notice of the change,
Applications for new NHS distance-selling pharmacies closed on 23 June 2025.
At the time, the government said the changes had been introduced to tackle “pseudo-DSPs”, which are new pharmacies that are set up as DSPs but then provide local services.
Prior to the legislative changes, DSPs were exempt from market entry regulations that require any new provider of NHS pharmaceutical services to demonstrate an unmet local need.
On 3 June 2025, Community Pharmacy England said the short notice period before the changes come into force was intended to “reduce the number of applications before the market entry exemption closes”.
NHS England also told The Pharmaceutical Journal that it had received 604 applications for new DSPs between April 2019 and August 2025 — 209 of which had been approved and 308 of which were still pending or awaiting decisions.
Conor Daly, partner at Rushport LLP, which supports pharmacy owners through DSP legal processes, said that from the announcement of the ending of the DSP exemption up until 23 June 2025, the firm received “a far higher than normal number of enquiries”.
“Rushport is acting for approximately 60 clients at the moment and still receiving new enquiries as some people decided to just have a go [at setting up a DSP] themselves and are now realising that it is much more difficult than they originally expected it to be,” he told The Pharmaceutical Journal.
He added that the firm is also acting for existing pharmacy operators who object to DSP applications, where Rushport is not acting for the applicant.
The applicants the firm was representing had only just started receiving approvals from integrated care boards this week, he said.
Regarding the number still awaiting an NHS England decision, he said: “It will be interesting to see how many of these applications end up being approved, as changes to the legal test mean that more evidence is required to secure an approval.
“It is likely that even if these applications are approved, there will be a significant number that do not ever open, as contractors may decide not to go ahead and set up these new DSPs.”
