Pharmacist flexibilities “should be the norm”, Community Pharmacy England has said in a draft response to Government proposals.

A Department of Health and Social Care’s (DHSC’s) consultation is proposing enabling community pharmacists to supply a different strength or formulation (which may mean a different quantity) of the same medicine originally prescribed where the prescribed medicine is unavailable. As currently set out, this would only be on the condition that:

  • the pharmacy does not have the medicine in stock;
  • the pharmacist has assessed that there is an ‘urgent need’ (e.g. where a patient requires an acute medicine);
  • it would be impractical to obtain the medicine without undue delay; and
  • any alternative will enable the patient to have the same medicine at the same dose, dosage regimen and treatment cycle as prescribed.

DHSC indicates that the aims of these proposals are to improve patient access to medicines, reduce the burden on healthcare systems, and improve person-centred care. However, the consultation goes on to state that the flexibilities would not apply when the medicine is already subject to a serious shortage protocol (SSP), medicine supply notification (MSN), or an alert through the central alerting system (CAS).

In Community Pharmacy England’s 2025 Pharmacy Pressures Survey, 73% of pharmacy teams said ongoing shortages are putting patient health at risk, whilst one in four pharmacy teams now spends over two hours each day sourcing alternative medicines for patients where shortages occur, adding to workload pressures and staff stress. DHSC’s proposals could therefore be of great benefit to pharmacy teams struggling with relentless medicines supply issues, which is a positive step forward for the sector.

Whilst Community Pharmacy England is broadly supportive of the proposals, our draft consultation response also outlines where the current proposals do not go far enough and that we would like to see greater powers for pharmacists to make switches to support patient care and access to medicines, e.g. to manage branded generic prescribing.

We believe that the ability to use flexibilities should be the norm unless specifically prohibited. There is already a proven and working system for pharmacists in Scotland, and this is what we would like to see replicated across England.

Read our draft response to the pharmacist flexibilities consultation

The draft response has been published to share Community Pharmacy England’s position on pharmacist flexibilities. Pharmacy owners are also encouraged to submit their own responses to the DHSC’s consultation, which closes at 11.59pm on 11th December 2025.

James Davies, Director of Research and Insights at Community Pharmacy England, said:

“Community Pharmacy England, in collaboration with other pharmacy bodies, has long been calling for more flexibility for pharmacists when dispensing medicines subject to supply issues, and are pleased to see a positive step forward from the Government on this issue.

However, there is potential for Government to take these flexibilities much further, allowing them to become the norm rather than placing so many restrictions on their use. Community pharmacists are more than capable of handling such scenarios and using their expertise to determine when it is, and isn’t, appropriate to make a change. This would further reduce the costs and workload burden associated with referring patients back to prescribers when a medicine is not available.”

Lords Committee inquiry into medicine supply issues

The House of Lords Public Services Committee is conducting an inquiry into medicines security, considering how the UK Governments predicts, identifies and responds to medicines supply issues.

Community Pharmacy has submitted written evidence to help inform the inquiry and James Davies, Director of Research and Insights, has been called to give oral evidence to the Committee in early November.

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