Changes to UK pharmacy licensing regime

The UK's Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has published its recommendations following its investigation into the control of entry regulations and retail pharmacy services in the UK. The main recommendation is that the control of entry regulations (which limit the number and location of community pharmacies) should be ended. Under the current regulations, pharmacists can dispense NHS prescriptions only if local health authorities are satisfied that this is "necessary or desirable" for the adequate provision of pharmaceutical services in the local community. In the OFT's view, the regulations have blocked entry of new pharmacy businesses. The adoption of the recommended changes in the OFT report would mean that all registered pharmacies with qualified staff would be able to dispense NHS prescriptions. Launching the report, Director General of Fair Trading, John Vickers, said: "Pharmacies are a vital part of the UK healthcare system, but entry regulations are impeding new sources of supply to the public. These regulations restrict competition and choice for consumers, impose a regulatory burden and limit the ability of businesses to respond to evolving customer demands. Liberalisation should benefit consumers, businesses and healthcare provision, so we are recommending deregulation to government." Frontier carried out a variety of items of empirical work for the OFT, including developing an electronic map of pharmacies, investigating the relationship between price, quality, and competition, and considering the access implications of various deregulation scenarios as part of this investigation. A full copy of the report can be found here.