Hub-and-spoke dispensing start date and next steps announced
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Community Pharmacy England (CPE) announced on the 30 April that the government has laid new amendments to the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 (HMR), allowing pharmacies not owned by the same legal entity to start hub-and-spoke dispensing by the end of October.
As previously discussed, these changes have been a long time coming.
What’s changing?
Currently, hub-and-spoke dispensing is only permitted between pharmacies within the same legal entity. The new legislation will allow for smaller independent pharmacies, who have previously been excluded, to benefit from the same model, as pharmacies belonging to different legal entities will be able to use hubs operated by other companies.
Moreover, in their statement CPE shared that they are ‘discussing with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) associated amendments to the NHS (Pharmaceutical and Local Pharmaceutical Services) Regulations (PLPS regulations) to permit the NHS spoke pharmacy to subcontract part of the NHS Essential Dispensing Service to the hub.’
‘These amendments are likely to include a requirement that NHS spoke pharmacies must notify their Integrated Care Board (ICB) 28 days in advance of commencing hub and spoke dispensing (for NHS prescriptions).’
CPE has 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.
How does it work?
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, Minister Stephen Kinnock confirmed that DHSC will be “going with” Model One.
DHSC describes the model as follows:
‘The patient presents a prescription to the spoke. The spoke then sends the relevant information on to the hub so that they can carry out their agreed dispensing actions. The hub then sends these dispensed medicines back to the spoke, which may have further responsibilities to perform such as providing advice on the medicine to the patient, before supplying them to the patient.’
CPE have clarified the key points of the HMR amendments are:
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The spoke pharmacy must have entered into written arrangements with the hub pharmacy; these must include a comprehensive agreement of the responsibilities each has for the shared dispensing process.
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The spoke must sell, supply, or dispense the medicine to the patient, the hub having assembled or part assembled it – under the arrangements.
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The dispensed medicine must be labelled with the spoke’s name and address, and the date on which the hub assembled or part assembled the medicine (as well as the usual information required on a dispensing label).
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The sharing of patient data between the hub and spoke (without the explicit consent of a patient) is permitted through an information gateway which includes a requirement for the spoke to display an appropriate notice to patients and staff at the spoke and hub to maintain the confidentiality of the patient data.
What are the benefits?
The idea is that this will create a level playing field between smaller pharmacies and larger chains, and that these changes will allow pharmacists to dispense medicines more efficiently, providing them with more time to engage with patients and deliver clinical services.
When the legislation allowing for universal hub-and-spoke dispensing was first announced, Andrea Leadsom, the then Pharmacy Minister, said: “These proposals will level the playing field and enable our hard-working community pharmacies to benefit from centralised dispensing.”
“It will also free up highly skilled pharmacists from back-office duties to deliver patient-facing services, including Pharmacy First and contraception consultations, supply medicines and provide advice.”
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 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.’
What Next?
Following the announcement, CPE is currently saying that it will provide a full briefing on the amendments and hub and spoke dispensing "in the coming weeks".
At The Pharmacy Show 2024, Gareth Jones delivered an insightful presentation examining the implications of the upcoming changes to the law. You can watch to the full recording from last year’s Pharmacy Show here.
From 12-13 October this year, just weeks before the legislation comes into effect, you can hear first-hand from leading sector voices insights into how to optimise hub-and-spoke dispensing, with multiple talks offering an extensive deep-dive into making hub-and-spoke a reality.
Don’t miss the chance to learn more about this and all the other key updates you need to know to stay ahead.
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