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A bill that includes a provision to replace arrangements for issuing new pharmacy dispensing contracts with a system based on pharmaceutical needs assessments was passed by the Welsh Assembly in Cardiff on 16 May 2017.
The Public Health (Wales) Bill now enters a period of intimation before it can be passed for Royal Assent.
By enacting the bill, the current system — which allows a new pharmacy dispensing contract to be issued only if patients are deemed not able to access prescriptions quickly enough — will be replaced with a system similar to that existing in England.
It will require local health boards to produce a pharmaceutical needs assessment for their local communities, and then issue new contracts if they meet a need specified in that assessment.
The bill also places restrictions on smoking in school grounds, hospital grounds and public playgrounds.
