Time to Prepare for New Hub and Spoke Legislation
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Legislation enabling hub and spoke dispensing between different legal entities is set to take effect on 1 October 2025, pending approval by both Houses of Parliament. The changes have been a long time coming and for many pharmacies they can’t come soon enough. It will help level the playing field for smaller and independent pharmacies, enabling them to benefit from centralised dispensing models previously only available to larger groups. Equally, there will be a number of pharmacies who have never considered hub and spoke who should now be looking at the opportunities this provides.
Options for Smaller Pharmacy Groups
There is a perception that for smaller pharmacy groups the only hub and spoke option available to them is a third-party hub and that is absolutely not the case. At Centred Solutions we successfully work with pharmacy groups who have as few as three branches and as many as 200+ branches . We are also speaking to cohorts of like-minded pharmacy groups who are looking to set up their own co-operative dispensing hub so they keep the benefits and ownership in house.
With timelines now confirmed it is important for all community pharmacies to start exploring their options around hub and spoke so they understand the range of models now available. The Government has made it clear that it believes reform is needed alongside the new funding deal. Hub and spoke is one of these reforms as it allows community pharmacies to create capacity in branch and maintain, or even increase, item volumes by streamlining the dispensing process.
Range of Hub and Spoke Benefits
Many in the sector remain sceptical about the benefits of hub and spoke because, up until recently, the evidence has been missing to demonstrate these benefits. However, Centred Solutions are hub and spoke specialists and we have been providing hub and spoke solutions to a range of pharmacy groups for over three years now. This has allowed us to evaluate the true effectiveness of hub and spoke models in different environments. Using this data, alongside national data, we found a range of benefits for pharmacy. Using hub and spoke can reduce payroll costs per item by up to 81%, take 50% of total dispensing volumes out of branch and release at least four hours of pharmacist time and eight hours of dispenser/technician time on average, per day, in an average pharmacy. The return on investment can be realised in under two years.
Hub and Spoke Experts
Community pharmacies also need to make sure that they put the right hub and spoke model in place for their business. There are a range of options now marketed as “hub and spoke” solutions, however FLOWRx by Centred Solutions is the only one that was designed “specifically” for hub and spoke dispensing in the UK pharmacy market. When considering this centralised model of dispensing, start by looking at which elements of the current dispensing process are taking up the most time in terms of workforce and skill. Then look at the automation available to take on the most time consuming tasks and make sure it has the ability to scale to meet future demand. As experts in hub and spoke, we've created a comprehensive guide, "Hub and Spoke Is Coming", to help pharmacy teams understand the upcoming changes and how to make the most of them.
What’s in the Guide?
Our full guide covers:
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The legislative background and what it means
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Tangible business benefits and cost savings
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Real world results from Centred Solutions’ FLOWRx systems
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Step-by-step guidance on how to explore and implement hub and spoke in your pharmacy
At Centred Solutions, we don’t just provide technology, we deliver strategy, support, and results. Talk to us about how FLOWRx and our team of hub and spoke experts can help you transform your pharmacy.
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