Pharmacy First up 21% on last July, as items rise 3%

The month in one line

In July, England's pharmacies dispensed 3% more items, gave 17% more New Medicine Service consultations and 21% more Pharmacy First consultations than a year earlier, with virtually the same number of pharmacies.

What's new in the data

• England: July 2026 dispensing and services are now complete.
• Northern Ireland: dispensing now runs to August 2026; we compare July here to match England.
• Scotland: June 2026 is the latest complete month. July dispensing has started to arrive, but Pharmacy First activity for July is not yet published.

July 2025 and July 2026 had the same number of working days in both England and Northern Ireland, so the year-on-year comparisons are like for like.

Pharmacy First up 21%

England's pharmacies gave 646,006 Pharmacy First consultations in July 2026, up from 534,147 in July 2025. The seven clinical pathways together grew 22%, from 298,993 to 365,050 consultations.

The biggest rises were in ear infections (up 45%), sore throat (up 41%) and shingles (up 31%). Urgent medicine supply, the largest single service, grew 25%.

The busiest month in a year

July was the busiest month of the last 13 for both Pharmacy First and dispensing. Consultations have climbed from a low of 473,377 in September 2025, and items reached 106.3 million, just above October 2025's 106.0 million.

Growth shared widely

The rise was not driven by a handful of busy pharmacies. Among high-street pharmacies:

• More pharmacies took part. 95.3% gave at least one Pharmacy First consultation in July, up from 94.2%.
• The typical pharmacy did more. The median pharmacy gave 52 consultations, up from 44 (an 18% rise).
• The busiest did not pull away. The top tenth of pharmacies gave 29.3% of all consultations, slightly down from 30.1%.

This growth came before any prescribing. From this autumn, pharmacies with an independent prescriber can also prescribe for migraine, rhinitis, adult ear infections, acne and scabies under Pharmacy First.

In the numbers

• Items dispensed: 106.3 million in July 2026, up 3.1% from 103.1 million.
• Items per high-street pharmacy: 9,878 on average, up 3.4% from 9,553.
• Online pharmacies: 433 dispensed in July, up from 402. Their share of items barely moved, from 7.5% to 7.6%.
• New Medicine Service: 1.18 million consultations, up 17% from 1.01 million.
• Electronic prescriptions: 98.4% of items, up from 98.0%.
• Northern Ireland: 3.92 million items from 514 pharmacies, up 1.4%.
• Scotland (June): 10.29 million items, up 8.8% on June 2025. June 2026 had one more working day, so per working day the rise was 3.9%. Pharmacy First activity rose 2.2%.

What it means for owners and buyers

• Services are now the growth engine. Pharmacy First grew nearly seven times faster than dispensing. A pharmacy's share of local Pharmacy First activity says as much about its trajectory as its item count.
• Most pharmacies are growing with the service. The typical pharmacy's Pharmacy First activity rose 18%. One that has stood still is falling behind its neighbours.
• The high street is holding its volume. Thirty-one more online pharmacies dispensed this July than last, but their share of items rose by only a tenth of a percentage point.
• Watch the autumn. Prescribing pathways will show up in the data from the months they go live. We will track whether pharmacies with a prescriber start to pull ahead.

Explore it yourself

Every figure here is available for individual pharmacies in Octo: dispensing, Pharmacy First, New Medicine Service and local competitors, from £4.99 a month.