Automation is seen as particularly attractive for hub-and-spoke dispensing for smaller pharmacy groups of three or more. Currently, the law permits a hub pharmacy to dispense medicines for a spoke pharmacy only if they are part of the same retail pharmacy business.

At the start of 2016, the Department of Health issued a consultation on pharmacy dispensing models, with a proposed legislative change to amend Section 10 of the Medicines Act 1968. This would allow hub and spoke across legal entities, meaning independent spoke pharmacies could use the services of a hub pharmacy which was part of a separate pharmacy business, or could “work together and invest in automation in one ‘hub’ location”.¹

In June, the DH said more detailed considerations were necessary. In particular, due to concerns about the consequences of deregulation, “for example, how patient consent, data protection and liability will work across legal entities.” As of November, the DH had yet to announce whether the legislative change would be made.