Legislation to allow hub and spoke dispensing between different legal entities continues to move forward ahead of the October 1 implementation date, writes Shelley Dyer, Head of Marketing at Centred Solutions.
Last week a committee in the House of Lords debated the statutory instrument and approved the new hub and spoke regulations which will dramatically reshape the way prescriptions are dispensed across England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. As a reminder, the Human Medicines (Amendments Relating to Hub and Spoke Dispensing etc.) Regulations 2025 will allow all community pharmacies, including independents and dispensing doctors, to adopt hub and spoke between different legal entities from October this year.
The changes are designed to streamline pharmacy operations, freeing up pharmacists to deliver more face-to-face clinical services by carrying out the bulk of the medication dispensing process at a central pharmacy hub. Until now this has only been an option for pharmacy businesses under the same legal entity.
Introducing the legislation, health minister Baroness Merron described the reforms as “safe, necessary and proportionate,” insisting they would cut duplication, reduce dispensing errors, and boost frontline care capacity. Pharmacies will be required to enter formal written agreements with hubs, and patients must be informed when their prescriptions are being handled offsite.
“The label on the medicine will continue to show only the spoke’s name and address,” said Merron, underscoring efforts to preserve patient trust and confidentiality.
While there was broad support across party lines, several peers raised critical questions.
Baroness Finlay of Llandaff warned that time-sensitive medications, especially those needed for end-of-life care, might be delayed by centralisation. She called for real-time data on delivery timelines and medication errors.
Viscount Stansgate pressed for clarity on liability when things go wrong. If a dispensing error occurs, who will be responsible: the hub or the local pharmacy?
Lord Kamall and Lord Scriven voiced concerns about market concentration. “Will a few large corporations dominate the hub sector?” asked Kamall, highlighting the risk of smaller pharmacies being edged out.
In response, the Government confirmed that the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) will monitor the market as it evolves, and that hubs must be regulated by the General Pharmaceutical Council or Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland.
The concerns raised in the House of Lords debate are long-standing common misconceptions when it comes to pharmacy hub and spoke and are part of an outdated narrative that needs to be addressed. Centred Solutions provides hub and spoke solutions and guidance to a range of pharmacies up and down the country and has been doing so for the past four years. This has put us in a unique position to challenge these concerns based on our evidence and experience.
Time sensitive medications: The concerns that medication may be delayed by centralisation are unfounded. The majority of hubs we work with offer a next day turnaround service for delivering medication back to the spoke. Many patients have actually found that they now receive their medication quicker than they did when it was dispensed purely by the spoke.
Dispensing errors: Our data has actually shown there is a reduced risk of medication errors when a central hub, combined with automation, is used. This is because it relies on barcode and RFID technology, reducing the risk of human error in a busy dispensary. For example, at Lo’s Pharmacy, since implementation two years ago the hub has dispensed over 4.8 million packs and in that time, there has been zero errors processed by the FLOWRx Hub technology.
Concentration of Larger Hubs: There continues to be an incorrect assumption that only the largest chains can adopt a hub and spoke model without relying on external providers. However, at Centred Solutions we’ve identified three hub and spoke business models that demonstrate viable options for independents and small groups:
At the debate Baroness Merron confirmed that the regulations being brought in for October would only allow for a hub and spoke system, where the prescription flows from the patient to the spoke pharmacy, then to the hub for dispensing, and back to the spoke for collection. The Government said the proposed workflow which allows the hub to dispense directly to the patient was not currently on the cards.
The aim is to complete the legislation process so the new rules will come into effect on 1 October 2025, with pharmacies expected to begin adopting the model by the end of the month.
Read the full House of Lords Committee debate on the proposed statutory instrument.