On 1 July 2016 the High Court issued its judgment on the first judicial review of the rules that govern the relocations of pharmacies in England. The judgment of Mr Justice Langstaff keeps intact much of the procedure and thinking that has developed since the new rules came in a few years ago, but it also provides some helpful guidance and suggests changes to the way that appea ...

First Judicial Review of the New Pharmacy Regulations April 2016 saw the first guidance from the court in relation to the 2013 Pharmacy Regulations and it involved one of our applications. Whilst the case related to application made under Regulation 18 ("unforeseen benefits") it did not consider the test under Regulation 18 per se, but instead focussed on the unusual situatio ...

We are pleased to announce that, acting on behalf of one of our clients, we have been able to secure a new pharmacy contract for the Isle of Sheppey. The application was approved by NHS England but was opposed by the local dispensing doctor practice and appealed by a number of local pharmacy operators. In addition to securing the pharmacy contract for our client (this will be h ...

We are pleased to announce that following the successful completion of our project to secure a pharmacy tenant at the new Alwoodley Medical Centre in Leeds, the centre has now reached practical completion. The new building is currently being commissioned with providers expected to start moving in over the coming Easter weekend with all services including pharmacy launching the ...

Since the Responsible Pharmacist Regulations came into force in 2008 pharmacists have been allowed to be absent from the pharmacy for periods of up to two hours. This was a sensible allowance to make as it basically clarified and set limits on what pharmacists had been doing for years. The problem is that nobody bothered to tell the Department of Health that this was a good ide ...

We are pleased to announce that Rushport has been announced as a finalist in the "Best Strategic Consultant" category in the 2016 Healthinvestor Awards. ...

The second half of 2015 saw a marked change in the way that decisions have been made, especially on appeal, for both distance selling ("internet") pharmacy applications and also "no significant change relocation" applications. Looking at distance selling first, those who look through the NHSLA website may have noticed that more and more applications are being refused at appeal ...

As part of our continued expansion we are delighted to announce the opening of our Belfast office. The first ever new pharmacy contract that we won was in Northern Ireland on 10th September 1997. This was also the first pharmacy contract ever approved inside a supermarket in Northern Ireland and we had to take the case to court before it was finally approved after nearly 3 yea ...

Bidford in Worcestershire has become our latest success story following the approval of our application to open a new pharmacy at Bidford Health Centre. The application was initially refused by NHS England, but the NHSLA convened an oral hearing and after hearing evidence the Panel unanimously approved the application.The health centre had recently moved away from the centre of ...

New pharmacy contracts are difficult to secure, but new pharmacy contracts in central London are almost unheard of. In May 2015 we were able to secure a new contract in central London, EC1 in the area around the St Katharine Docks development. The contract was fiercly opposed by a number of local pharmacy contractors who hired various solicitors and consultants to oppose the ap ...