Elaine Watson A "rapid expansion" of instore pharmacies is expected in the next five years following government moves to liberalise the pharmacy licensing regime. New proposals from the DTI would make it easier for pharmacists to set up shop in retail developments over 15,000 sq m and for stores with opening hours of more than 100 hours a week to gain licences. This would make a raft of supermarkets, many of which already open 24 hours, or are located within a large shopping complex, eligible for licences, said a DTI spokesman. However, applicants would have to provide the specific services demanded by local primary care trusts in order to obtain licences, which meant supermarkets would not be able to roll out a one-size-fits-all' pharmacy offer, he added. "For example, some trusts might specify that you have to provide methadone for recovering drug addicts, while others might have completely different requirements." Asda superintendent pharmacist John Evans said the proposals, which go to the DoH for further consultation next month, were a key step forward. "This marks the beginning of the end for 16 years of regulations that have kept medicine prices too high and prevented pharmacies opening where customers want them. By opening up the market, the government has underlined what customers have been telling us for years. "They want more pharmacies,in better locations, with a wider healthcare services and lower prices. Should these proposals be accepted and entry controls reformed, we expect a rapid expansion of pharmacies in the next five years." To prepare for this expansion, Asda was trialling a smaller "shop-floor" pharmacy at Stockport that could be rolled out to the most of its stores if it received the thumbs up from regulators, said Evans. Tesco, which has more than 200 instore pharmacies to Asda's 82, said it welcomed the proposals, but was disappointed the government had not "gone further to remove controls that impede competition and reduce benefits for both patients and consumers". Safeway, by contrast, said independent pharmacists provided an essential service to the community that ought to be protected, and argued total deregulation would be "disproportionate". {{NEWS }}