# The National Health Service (Pharmaceutical and Local Pharmaceutical Services) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2026, Note: Explanatory note


(This note is not part of the Regulations)
These Regulations make amendments to the National Health Service (Pharmaceutical and Local Pharmaceutical Services) Regulations 2013 (the PLPS Regulations). The PLPS Regulations govern arrangements, in England, for the provision of pharmaceutical services and local pharmaceutical services under Part 7 of the National Health Service Act 2006.
Regulation 3 amends regulation 31 of the PLPS Regulations to exclude change of ownership applications that do not involve relocation from the requirement to refuse a pharmaceutical list application if the proposed premises are part of the same site as the premises of an existing provider of pharmaceutical services.
Regulation 4 amends regulation 52 of the PLPS Regulations to provide that NHS England does not need to give notice of the application having been made in certain instances where the regulations require the application to be refused. The applications in question relate to the provision of services by dispensing doctors.
Regulation 5 amends regulation 53 of the PLPS Regulations to provide for notification of NHS England’s decision to the people who would have been notified of the application but for the amendment made to regulation 52 of the PLPS Regulations by regulation 4.
Regulation 6 inserts new regulation 66A which limits the occasions on which an authorised prescriber who works at pharmacy premises may act as an independent prescriber for the owner of the pharmacy.
Regulations 7 and 8 amend regulations 68 and 69 to clarify the co-operation by providers on pharmaceutical lists which is required before the commissioner is obliged to undertake or continue dispute resolution before making a decision.
Regulation 9 amends Schedule 2 of the PLPS by removing the requirement to provide additional information where an application relates to directed services; and removing the requirement for an applicant’s sex to be included in all routine or excepted applications for inclusion in a pharmaceutical list.
Regulation 10 amends Schedule 4 of the PLPS Regulations to provide a framework for treating the closure of pharmacy premises for up to four hours each calendar month as open at times when they are closed for learning and development purposes; by adding the requirement for professional staff to hold a valid certificate for an enhanced DBS check to an NHS pharmacist’s terms of service; and preventing a pharmacy changing a patient’s preferred dispensing contractor without the patient’s or their representative’s explicit consent.
Regulation 11 similarly amends Schedule 7 of the PLPS Regulations to prevent a LPS pharmacy changing a patient’s preferred dispensing contractor without the patient’s or their representative’s consent and adding the requirement for a valid certificate for an enhanced DBS check as a term of their NHS service.
A full impact assessment has not been prepared for this instrument as no, or no significant, impact on the public sector is foreseen, and only a limited impact on the private sector, below the threshold for producing a full impact assessment.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2026/961/note (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/national-health-service-pharmaceutical-and-local-pharmaceutical-services-amendment-no-2-regulations-2026/note
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.