Pharmacy Density and Dispensing Workload Index.
Where England's NHS pharmacy network is thinnest on the ground, and how much dispensing work is now falling on each remaining pharmacy. Built from NHSBSA Contractor Details, ONS/Nomis population estimates, and NHSBSA dispensing data.
Data pulled 2026-07-23. Published under Open Government Licence v3.0. Download CSV
The best-served NHS region in England.
The thinnest-served region, 39% lower density than North East and Yorkshire.
From 7,226 to 9,835 items dispensed in the month of March, per pharmacy.
NHS pharmacies per 100,000 population, by region
NHS-contracted community pharmacies from NHSBSA's Contractor Details dataset (Contractor Details - Jun 2026), counted by NHS England region and divided by the ONS mid-2024 population estimate for the equivalent geography.
| Region | NHS pharmacies | Population | Per 100k |
|---|---|---|---|
| North East and Yorkshire | 1,763 | 8,433,640 | 20.9 |
| North West | 1,543 | 7,737,414 | 19.94 |
| London | 1,743 | 9,089,736 | 19.18 |
| Midlands | 2,082 | 11,250,368 | 18.51 |
| East Of England | 1,103 | 6,576,306 | 16.77 |
| South West | 938 | 5,889,695 | 15.93 |
| South East | 1,445 | 9,642,942 | 14.99 |
| England total | 10,617 | 58,620,101 | 18.11 |
Source: NHSBSA Contractor Details (Contractor Details - Jun 2026), NHS Business Services Authority; ONS mid-year population estimates (Nomis NM_2002_1, Census 2021/22 rebase), Office for National Statistics. Both Open Government Licence v3.0. Pulled 2026-07-23.
NHS regions combine ONS Regions of England as follows: Midlands = East Midlands + West Midlands; North East and Yorkshire = North East + Yorkshire and The Humber. The other five NHS regions map 1:1 to an ONS region. Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Crown Dependencies (Jersey, Guernsey, Isle of Man, Alderney) are excluded from the England totals but appear in the underlying contractor list; coverage there is limited and treated as a guide only by NHSBSA. Counts exclude appliance-only accounts and private controlled-drug accounts.
Dispensing workload: fewer pharmacies, more items dispensed each
National prescription items dispensed and dispensing-pharmacy counts, each March (2019 to 2026), from NHSBSA's Pharmacy and Appliance Contractor Dispensing Data. Total items dispensed nationally in the month of March rose from 85,004,185 (2019) to 102,105,642 (2026), a single month's volume spread across a shrinking pharmacy count.
Pharmacy count vs items-per-pharmacy, indexed to 2019
Items dispensed per pharmacy each March
| March | Total items dispensed (March) | Dispensing pharmacies | Items per pharmacy (March) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 85,004,185 | 11,764 | 7,226 |
| 2020 | 92,840,308 | 11,434 | 8,120 |
| 2021 | 88,829,000 | 11,210 | 7,924 |
| 2022 | 92,491,896 | 11,116 | 8,321 |
| 2023 | 96,436,579 | 11,072 | 8,710 |
| 2024 | 93,146,489 | 10,551 | 8,828 |
| 2025 | 96,035,361 | 10,423 | 9,214 |
| 2026 | 102,105,642 | 10,382 | 9,835 |
Source: NHSBSA Pharmacy and Appliance Contractor Dispensing Data (Pharmacy and Appliance dispensing data March 2026), NHS Business Services Authority. Licence: Open Government Licence v3.0. Pulled 2026-07-23.
For each year, the March DISPENSING_DATA_<year>03 CSV is downloaded in full. Total items = sum of VALUE where CONTENT_GROUP='Prescription Count' and CONTENT='Items', across rows where PHARMACY_ACCOUNT_TYPE='Pharmacy' (appliance and LPS-only accounts excluded). Pharmacy count = distinct CONTRACTOR_CODE values in the same filtered set, for cross-check against the openings/closures index (the two counts agree to within rounding in every year tested). All total_items and items_per_pharmacy values are single-month (March) volumes, not annual totals.
What the workload squeeze means for pharmacy owners
Rising items per pharmacy means more Category M and Drug Tariff margin exposure concentrated in fewer businesses, and a workforce and staffing cost base that has to absorb the volume the network used to spread across more sites. Benchmarking your dispensing efficiency and margin against the national trend is the starting point for a pricing and staffing conversation with your accountant.
Compare your dispensing margin and cost base against sector norms as workload per pharmacy keeps rising.
Staffing cost planning for a dispensing volume that keeps climbing per pharmacy.
Model the payment cycle on a higher, and rising, monthly dispensing volume.
About this index
- Density figures use a single latest month's NHSBSA Contractor Details snapshot; NHSBSA describes the contractor list as "a guide only" due to reporting lags from Integrated Care Boards.
- Regional totals may differ slightly from the openings/closures index headline because the two datasets use different extraction methods (a point-in-time contractor list vs a monthly reporting cycle); both are official NHSBSA sources.
- Dispensing workload figures are single-month volumes for March each year, not annual totals: the same benchmark month is compared year on year to avoid seasonal variation and to align with the openings/closures index's own annual convention. Annual dispensing volume runs at roughly 12 times the March figure.
- Small counts in NHSBSA source data may be subject to standard disclosure-control rounding; this index reports published totals as-is.
- England-only. Scotland, Wales, and the Crown Dependencies are excluded from the density map; NHSBSA holds only limited data for Wales and the Islands and none for Scotland or Northern Ireland.
Cite this index: Pharmacy Density and Dispensing Workload Index, derived from NHSBSA Contractor Details, NHSBSA Pharmacy and Appliance Contractor Dispensing Data, and ONS/Nomis mid-year population estimates. Published under OGL3. Verified 2026-07-23.
Running a pharmacy under rising dispensing volume?
More items dispensed per pharmacy means margin, staffing, and cash-flow pressure concentrated in fewer businesses. Get the accounting and benchmarking right for where the sector is heading, not where it was five years ago.