Explanatory note

These Regulations amend the National Health Service (Pharmaceutical and Local Pharmaceutical Services) Regulations 2013 (“the 2013 Regulations”). The 2013 Regulations govern the arrangements in England, under Part 7 of the National Health Service Act 2006, for the provision of pharmaceutical services and local pharmaceutical services.

Regulation 2 corrects two typographical errors in the 2013 Regulations.

Regulation 3 substitutes the review provision in the 2013 Regulations with a new provision that requires further reviews after the first review (which previously had been provided for), sets out in greater detail what the reports following each review are to include, and sets a five year maximum interval between reviews.

Regulations 4 and 5 amend the terms of service of chemists that provide NHS community pharmaceutical services.

Before providing a drug or appliance that has been ordered on an NHS prescription, if entitlement to non-payment of an NHS prescription charge is being claimed, the chemist must ask for evidence of that entitlement. If evidence is not supplied, the chemist is now required, before the drug or appliance is supplied, to advise the person who was asked to produce that evidence that checks are routinely undertaken to ascertain entitlement to non-payment of NHS prescription charges, where this is claimed, as part of the relevant arrangements for preventing or detecting fraud or error (regulations 4(2) and 5(2)).

Some chemists have access to NHS patients’ summary care records, which are electronic records under the management of the Health and Social Care Information Centre. If chemists do have this access, they are required to access those records when they are providing NHS community pharmaceutical services, where it is in the best interests of a patient to do so and doing so accords with the guidance known as “The NHS Care Record Guarantee” (regulations 4(3) and 5(3)).