The House of Lords Business paper records that SI 2026/961 was laid on 3 September 2026, while the instrument text reproduced by Legislation Tracker states that it was made on 2 September 2026. Most provisions take effect on 1 October 2026, with the DBS terms of service changes deferred until 1 January 2027. The measure extends to England and Wales but applies in relation to England only. (lordsbusiness.parliament.uk) The amendment is technical in drafting but direct in operational effect. It tightens controls around prescribing on pharmacy premises, adds an explicit patient consent rule for nomination changes, creates a limited route for temporary training closures, and adds enhanced DBS expectations for professional staff and locums. (legislationtracker.co.uk)
The statutory text reproduced by Legislation Tracker from legislation.gov.uk sets out the most significant change in new regulation 66A. The starting position is now restrictive: an NHS pharmacist must not provide a drug or appliance ordered on a prescription form by a prescriber who is, or is employed or engaged by, that same NHS pharmacist unless one of the stated exceptions applies. (legislationtracker.co.uk) For contractors, that changes the compliance baseline. Same-premises prescribing and dispensing is not barred outright, but it is no longer something that can be assumed to fall within ordinary business practice without specific legal cover. (legislationtracker.co.uk)
One exception applies where the supply is made as part of a directed service and the service terms permit it. A second route exists within essential services, but only where the pharmacy is also the provider of a directed service under which the prescriber is entitled to order items, and where standard operating procedures cover prescribing and dispensing on the same premises as well as best interests assessments before the prescription is issued. (legislationtracker.co.uk) The regulation then adds further conditions. The new order must replace one made by a primary medical services prescriber, the replacement must have that provider's agreement, the prescription must be electronic, and it must be for a prescription only medicine that is not restricted under the Prescription of Drugs Regulations. NHS England may refuse pharmaceutical remuneration where, in its view, the supply falls outside those conditions. (legislationtracker.co.uk)
The amendment also addresses a separate point that matters to patients and contractors alike: who can change a person's nominated dispensing contractor. Schedule 4 and Schedule 7 now state that an NHS pharmacist or LPS contractor must not enter, or change, a person's dispensing contractor in their PDS patient details without the explicit consent of the person or a duly authorised representative. (legislationtracker.co.uk) In practice, that points pharmacies towards clearer consent capture, stronger audit trails and more tightly controlled staff workflows when nomination details are updated. For patients, the effect is to place a more explicit statutory safeguard around changes to the pharmacy linked to their NHS records. (legislationtracker.co.uk)
A further amendment creates a formal route for short learning and development closures. Pharmacy premises may be treated as open for up to four hours in each calendar month while closed for training, provided the contractor gives NHS England at least 30 days' notice, NHS England does not object, and the closure avoids protected periods including weekends and, for current or former 100-hour pharmacies, weekday evenings between 5 pm and 9 pm. (legislationtracker.co.uk) The permission is conditional rather than open-ended. Pharmacies must also notify local primary medical services providers that send patients for emergency prescriptions or directed services, update the NHS England directory of services and the NHS.uk website, and display or publish clear notice of the closure. NHS England may object where the closure, taken with other local gaps, would cause avoidable disruption to access. (legislationtracker.co.uk)
The DBS provisions move safeguarding checks into the contractual rulebook. From 1 January 2027, NHS pharmacists and LPS contractors must have arrangements ensuring that all professional staff and locums involved in providing pharmaceutical services hold either a valid enhanced DBS certificate, treated as valid for three years from issue, or evidence of an enhanced DBS status check through the DBS Update Service. (legislationtracker.co.uk) For providers that depend on temporary staffing, the change is likely to be practical rather than symbolic. It creates a defined checking cycle that will need to be reflected in onboarding, repeat engagement of locums and internal records on when evidence was last reviewed. (legislationtracker.co.uk)
Several smaller amendments are procedural rather than clinical, but they are still relevant for commissioners and applicants. Change of ownership applications that do not involve relocation are carved out of the same or adjacent premises refusal rule. NHS England is also no longer required to notify certain outline consent and premises approval applications before refusing them where the regulations already require refusal, although the later decision notice must still go to those who would otherwise have been notified. (legislationtracker.co.uk) The instrument also tightens dispute handling. Providers on pharmaceutical lists are expressly required to co-operate by answering reasonable questions and supplying reasonably required information within the timescales NHS England sets, and a failure to do so can affect whether NHS England must undertake or continue local dispute resolution before moving to remedial or breach action. Application forms are simplified as well, with the removal of the sex field and certain additional information requirements linked to directed services. (legislationtracker.co.uk)
For pharmacy owners, superintendent teams and LPS contractors, the immediate task before 1 October 2026 is to review prescribing protocols, nomination processes and closure planning against the new text. The second deadline is 1 January 2027, when DBS arrangements for professional staff and locums move from good practice into an express contractual requirement. (lordsbusiness.parliament.uk) The broader effect is modest in drafting but material in day-to-day control. According to the instrument text reproduced by Legislation Tracker and the parliamentary record of its laying, the Government has used this amendment round to set firmer boundaries on commercial conflicts in prescribing, give patient consent a clearer statutory footing, and provide NHS England with more explicit rules on service continuity and contractor oversight. (lordsbusiness.parliament.uk)