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Pharmacy: South West

Asked by Sarah GibsonLiberal DemocratDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled Answered 22 May 2025UIN 52474

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average dispensing time for a prescription in the NHS South West for each month between May 2015 and April 2025.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock

The Department does not hold data on average dispensing time, and it is not routinely collected. Pharmacies are independent businesses who follow their own individual standard operating procedures in dispensing medicines. How they order, receive, and label medicines will vary according to their business model and will depend on if a medicine is a repeat or an acute prescription.

Pharmacies are expected to maintain a reasonable stock holding to meet their legal obligations to dispense all prescriptions with reasonable promptness, recognising that it is not feasible for a pharmacy to maintain stock of every medicine.

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