{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/national-health-service-pharmaceutical-services-regulations-2005/regulation-12",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/national-health-service-pharmaceutical-services-regulations-2005/regulation-12.json",
  "legislation": "uksi/2005/641",
  "legislation_title": "The National Health Service (Pharmaceutical Services) Regulations 2005",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/national-health-service-pharmaceutical-services-regulations-2005",
  "path": "regulation/12",
  "kind": "regulation",
  "number": "12",
  "heading": "Necessary or desirable test",
  "text": "(1) Subject to regulations 13, 19, 21, 25 and 26, an application shall be granted by the Primary Care Trust only if it is satisfied that it is necessary or desirable to grant the application in order to secure, in the neighbourhood in which the premises from which the applicant intends to provide the services are located, the adequate provision, by persons included in a pharmaceutical list, of the services, or some of the services, specified in the application (“the necessary or desirable test”).\n(2) Subject to regulations 25 and 26 and paragraph (4), in considering whether the necessary or desirable test is satisfied, a Primary Care Trust shall have regard in particular to—\n(a) whether or not any of the following services are already provided by persons in the neighbourhood in which the premises named in the application are located—\n(i) any pharmaceutical services specified in the application provided by persons included in a pharmaceutical list, or any directed services the applicant agrees to provide if his name is included in the pharmaceutical list, or\n(ii) any local pharmaceutical services provided under a pharmacy pilot scheme which are of the same description as any pharmaceutical services specified in the application;\n(b) whether the recipients of pharmaceutical services already have a reasonable choice with regard to—\n(i) the pharmaceutical services provided in the neighbourhood in which the premises named in the application are located, by persons included in a pharmaceutical list, and\n(ii) the persons included in a pharmaceutical list from whom such recipients may obtain pharmaceutical services in the neighbourhood in which the premises named in the application are located;\n(c) any other information available to the Primary Care Trust which, in its opinion, is relevant to the consideration of the application; and\n(d) any representations received by the Primary Care Trust—\n(i) under regulation 23(2) or (3), or\n(ii) where the application is in respect of premises in a controlled locality, under regulation 33(4) from a person mentioned in regulation 33(2)(a) to (d) or (f) to (j) or (3)(a) to (d), (f) or (g).\n(3) In considering whether the necessary or desirable test is satisfied, a Primary Care Trust may also have regard to any pharmaceutical services that the applicant proposes to provide in that neighbourhood in circumstances where he is not obliged to provide those services.\n(4) The Primary Care Trust shall not take into account pharmaceutical services provided from premises at which pharmaceutical services are provided by a distance selling chemist when considering the pharmaceutical services already provided in the neighbourhood.",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [],
  "outstanding_effects": [
    {
      "type": "am",
      "affecting": "uksi/2009/2205",
      "affecting_title": "The National Health Service (Miscellaneous Amendments Relating to Community Pharmaceutical Services and Optometrist Prescribing) Regulations 2009"
    },
    {
      "type": "am",
      "affecting": "uksi/2009/2205",
      "affecting_title": "The National Health Service (Miscellaneous Amendments Relating to Community Pharmaceutical Services and Optometrist Prescribing) Regulations 2009"
    },
    {
      "type": "am",
      "affecting": "uksi/2005/1015",
      "affecting_title": "The National Health Service (Pharmaceutical Services) Amendment Regulations 2005"
    }
  ],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2005/641/regulation/12",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T05:04:38.912950+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}