Government puts end to new distance selling pharmacies

Distance selling pharmacies (DSPs) will no longer be able to open a new business after June 23^rd, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has announced.

The new regulations were agreed in the 2024/25 and 2025/26 negotiations between DHSC, NHS England (NHSE), and Community Pharmacy England (CPE).

Any new DSP applications submitted on or before 22 June 2025 will be determined in accordance with the current market entry test, i.e. the test that was in effect on and before 22 June 2025.

DSP pharmacies already on a pharmaceutical list will continue to be on the list and be able to continue to deliver pharmaceutical services in accordance with their Terms of Service in the PLPS regulations. DSP pharmacy owners will continue to be able to apply to relocate or change the ownership of the pharmacy.

However, from October, DSPs will only be able to deliver advanced and enhanced services remotely. This means they will not be allowed to offer services onsite at the DSP premises, with the exception of COVID-19 and Influenza vaccinations until March 31, 2026.

Richard Brown, owner of Chippenham Pharmacy and Health Clinic, a DSP operating from an industrial estate and fully compliant with all regulations, told Pharmacy Business that these changes “signal a broader threat to all pharmacy contractors whether you are distance-selling or otherwise”.

“If the Department of Health can change a key part of your contract without warning and without consultation, then all contractors are potentially vulnerable. Today it is DSPs; tomorrow, it could be service delivery criteria, payment structures, or access to core funding for all community pharmacies,” he said.

“Even if some pharmacy owners have been frustrated by a DSP in their area behaving questionably, we must all be more concerned by the precedent this sets—where legitimate businesses can be destabilised overnight by central decisions made without transparency.”