The National Health Service (Pharmaceutical Services) Regulations 2005

Opening hours: general

10.—(1) A supplier of appliances shall ensure that pharmaceutical services are provided at each of the premises from which he has undertaken to provide pharmaceutical services—

(a)for not less than 30 hours each week;

(b)for not less than 100 hours each week, in the case of premises in respect of which the condition imposed by regulation 13(2)(a) applies as regards the supplier of appliances' inclusion in a pharmaceutical list;

(c)if his Primary Care Trust, or on appeal the Secretary of State, has directed (either under this Schedule or paragraph 4 of Schedule 2 to the 1992 Regulations) that he may provide pharmaceutical services at the premises for fewer than 30 hours per week, provided that he provides those services at set times and on set days, at the times and on the days so set;

(d)if his Primary Care Trust, or on appeal the Secretary of State, has directed under paragraph 4 of Schedule 2 to the 1992 Regulations, that he must provide pharmaceutical services at the premises for more than 30 hours per week, and at set times and on set days, at the times and on the days so set; or

(e)if his Primary Care Trust, or on appeal the Secretary of State, has directed under this Schedule that he must provide pharmaceutical services at the premises for more than 30 hours each week—

(i)for the total number of hours each week required by virtue of that direction, and

(ii)as regards the additional hours for which he is required to provide pharmaceutical services by virtue of that direction, at the days on which and times at which he is required to provide pharmaceutical services during those additional hours, as set out in that direction,

but a Primary Care Trust may, in appropriate circumstances, agree a temporary suspension of services for a set period, where it has received three months notice of the proposed suspension.

(2) At each of the premises from which a supplier of appliances has undertaken to provide pharmaceutical services, a supplier of appliances shall exhibit a notice specifying the days on which and times at which the premises are open for the provision of appliances.

(3) A supplier of appliances shall, on request, submit a return to the Primary Care Trust setting out—

(a)the days on which and times at which pharmaceutical services are provided at each of the premises from which he has undertaken to provide pharmaceutical services (including times at which he is providing pharmaceutical services when he is not obliged to do so by virtue of sub-paragraph (1)); and

(b)the pharmaceutical services which he ordinarily provides at each of those premises.

(4) Where a supplier of appliances changes—

(a)the days on which or times at which pharmaceutical services are to be provided at premises from which he has undertaken to provide pharmaceutical services; or

(b)the pharmaceutical services which he is ordinarily to provide at those premises,

he shall supply the Primary Care Trust with a return informing it of the change.

(5) Subject to sub-paragraph (6), where a supplier of appliances is prevented by illness or other reasonable cause from complying with his obligations under sub-paragraph (1), he shall, where practicable, make arrangements with one or more suppliers of appliances, pharmacists or LPS chemists whose premises are situated in the neighbourhood for the provision of pharmaceutical services or local pharmaceutical services during that time.

(6) A supplier of appliances may make an arrangement with an LPS chemist under sub-paragraph (5) only where that LPS chemist provides local pharmaceutical services which are of a similar description as, and a similar extent to, the pharmaceutical services which he ordinarily provides.

(7) Where there is a temporary suspension in the provision of pharmaceutical services by a supplier of appliances for a reason beyond the control of the supplier of appliances, the supplier of appliances shall not be in breach of sub-paragraphs (1) and (2), provided that—

(a)he notifies the Primary Care Trust of that suspension as soon as practical; and

(b)he uses all reasonable endeavours to resume provision of pharmaceutical services as soon as is practicable.

(8) Planned refurbishment of premises is neither a “reasonable cause” for the purposes of sub-paragraph (5) nor a “reason beyond the control of the supplier of appliances” for the purposes of sub-paragraph (7).

(9) For the purposes of calculating the number of hours that premises are open during a week that includes Christmas Day, Good Friday or a bank holiday, it shall be deemed that the premises were open on that day at the times at which they would ordinarily have been open on that day of the week.

(10) In this Schedule, the “additional hours” for which a supplier of appliances is to be required to provide pharmaceutical services are those hours during which the supplier of appliances would not be providing pharmaceutical services, were he subject to the condition set out in sub-paragraph (1)(a) and not the condition set out in sub-paragraph (1)(e).