In what could be a major victory for community pharmacy, the Government seems to be backing down over hub and spoke dispensing.

The Department of Health is rethinking its controversial plans to increase ‘hub and spoke’ dispensing, as a result of issues raised by a recent consultation.

Under the hub and spoke dispensing model, a single pharmacy or ‘hub’ processes prescriptions with a dispensing robot before sending them to a series of ‘spoke’ pharmacies that supply the items directly to patients.

At present, only multiple or large pharmacy groups are permitted to operate this type of system because it requires the hub and spokes to belong to the same business. However, in 2015, pharmacy minister Alistair Burt unveiled plans to introduce legislative changes that would enable other pharmacy businesses to adopt a hub and spoke model.

Raising concerns

The Government argued that more hub and spoke dispensing would increase efficiency by reducing dispensing errors and creating more time for patient-facing services. Despite this, during a consultation, pharmacy bodies raised concerns that the plans overstated the advantages of the model, focused too much
on cost savings rather than patient benefits, and did not address practicalities such as professional liability and data sharing.

PSNC chief executive Sue Sharpe said the proposals were “ill thought out” and their effects had not been made clear to pharmacy or the public.

Shifting position

The changes were due to come into force in October, but in response to a question from Labour MP Stephen Pound earlier this month, Mr Burt said that the Government “does not now envisage changes to the legislation on this issue commencing on 1 October 2016”, and instead “would like to explore in more
detail with stakeholders’ representatives before progressing any legislation”.

NPA chairman Ian Strachan welcomed the fact that the Government had shifted its position in response to “overwhelming evidence” and expressed the hope that it would “show the same degree of mature reflection” in relation to other pharmacy changes – namely, the proposed funding cuts.

Pharmacy Voice chief executive Rob Darracott added: “We hope [the Government] will take this opportunity to listen and engage with the sector in a meaningful way.”