This is an announcement on behalf of NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSEI).
The new 2022 Pharmacy Access Scheme (PhAS) will come into effect from 1 January 2022. The revised scheme is part of the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework 5-year deal.
The 2022 PhAS continues to retain a review process, managed by NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSEI). This can be used by contractors who believe they have been incorrectly deemed ineligible for PhAS due to the distance criteria only, yet meet all other qualifying criteria in the guidance published in the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework.
To submit a review application visit the PhAS review portal.
NHSEI has published guidance to help contractors in submitting a review application for the new 2022 Pharmacy Access Scheme (PDF: 1.2MB).
Reviews may only be submitted if there have been inaccuracies with a pharmacy address or issues with access – for example, permanent roadblocks that should be considered in determining the walking distance to their next nearest pharmacy.
Contractors submitting a review application must meet all qualifying criteria (including the distance elements once any inaccuracies regarding location or physical anomalies are resolved). The qualifying criteria includes:
- the pharmacy is on the pharmaceutical list of 31 March 2021. Distance-selling pharmacies (DSPs), dispensing appliance contractors, local pharmaceutical services (LPS) contractors, and dispensing doctors are not eligible for PhAS
- the pharmacy is more than one mile from the next nearest pharmacy, based on pharmacy to pharmacy distance calculations using Ordnance Survey
- where a pharmacy is in a deprived area (the premises are located in the area assigned to IMD decile 1 to 2), the distance to the next nearest pharmacy is reduced to more than 0.8 miles
- the pharmacy had a dispensing volume between 1,200 and 104,789 in 2019 to 2020. For pharmacies that opened after March 2019, a mixture of scaling and data from the following months will be used to get a full 12 months’ volume
- the pharmacy premises are directly accessible to the public, that is, not in an area with restricted access (for example, beyond airport security)
If you require any further support in accessing the portal or completing your submission, please contact your NHSEI regional contract management team.