Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he had with NHS England on enacting regulation 61 of the The National Health Service (Pharmaceutical and Local Pharmaceutical Services) Regulations 2013 during the covid-19 outbreak.
The Department is in regular discussions with NHS England and NHS Improvement over the provision of services. On 27 March 2020, directions were issued on behalf of the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to enable Regulation 61 of the National Health Service (Pharmaceutical and Local Pharmaceutical Services) Regulations 2013. It has been regularly reviewed and extended during the pandemic. Currently the directions are in place until 30 June 2021.
Regulation 61 allows NHS England and NHS Improvement to commission a dispensing doctor to provide pharmaceutical services to patients to whom the dispensing doctor is not otherwise entitled to provide pharmaceutical services during an emergency. Exercise of this function is an operational decision for regional offices, taking into account local circumstances.