This web service provides operations for accessing dispenser information held by nhs.uk. Searches performed on input parameters for the four procedures will be performed on a case insensitive basis. I.e. a search for “abc” should return “ABC”, “Abc”, “ABc” etc. This will apply to all textual input parameters (e.g. address and postcode elements, organisation names, nacs codes and eps flags.)

The following operations are supported. For a formal definition, please review the Service Description.

• GetDispenserByNacsCode
  Occasionally the end user may not wish to search for a dispenser as the NACS code of a local pharmacy may already be known. This procedure is used to validate that the NACS code entered by the end user is a valid dispenser. It returns pertinent information about the dispenser to allow the end user to validate that the NACS code relates to the dispenser they intended. The information returned will include whether the dispenser is EPS enabled. This procedure will only return organisations registered as dispensers (i.e. if a valid NACS code is supplied but it is not registered as a dispenser, then no data will be returned in the XML document). Parameters: NACSCode - Valid NACS Code (e.g. FLH84). Returns: The following is a digest of the returned data. Dispensing Site NACS Code. EPS Status. Dispensing Site Name. Dispensing Site contact details (telephone & fax). Dispensing Site Address and postcode. Service types - The service types of the dispenser (i.e. Community and/or Appliance).
• GetDispenserByName
  This method retrieves the first 25 pharmacies/ Appliance contractors (in an alphabetical order) with a name LIKE the one entered and the service type/ EPS status chosen. The match should be based on the first part of the stored name. For example, a search for "Coens" should return "Coens Plc" but not "The Coens Chemist" This is not a geographical search and should return any dispensaries within England that meet the name criteria. It is required to allow searches on a non geographical basis – I.e. name only for virtual pharmacies or appliance contractors. Parameters: OrganisationName - The name of the pharmacy to search on (e.g. Boots). ServiceType - The service type to search for (i.e. Community (inc. Internet) (1) or Appliance (2)). Eps - Retrieve EPS enabled/ disabled. dispensers (YES/ NO) – The default value will be YES. Returns: The following is a digest of the returned data. Dispensing Site NACS Code. EPS Status. Dispensing Site Name. Dispensing Site contact details (telephone & fax). Dispensing Site Address and postcode. Order - The results will be ordered alphabetically using the dispensary name.
• GetDispenserByNameAndLocation
  This method retrieves pharmacies/ Appliance contractors with the address/post code specified that have a name LIKE the one entered and the service type/ EPS status chosen. This search will match on either the part postcode or town (if both are supplied the part postcode will be used). Please note that this search will match against the town name or part postcode. For example, if a part postcode of LS1 is entered, the search will only return dispensaries within LS1, no dispensaries in surrounding postcodes will be returned even if there are less than 25 in the supplied part postcode. The match should be based on the first part of the stored name. For example, a search for "Coens" should return "Coens Plc" but not "The Coens Chemist". Parameters: OrganisationName - The name of the pharmacy to search on (e.g. Boots). Street - Street Name. Town - Name of town to search. PartPostCode - First Part of a valid postcode to search on. ServiceType - The service type to search for (i.e. Community Pharmacy (inc. Internet) (1) or Appliance (2)). Eps - Retrieve EPS enabled/ disabled. dispensers (YES/ NO) – The default value will be YES. Returns: The following is a digest of the returned data. Dispensing Site NACS Code. EPS Status. Dispensing Site Name. Dispensing Site contact details (telephone & fax). Dispensing Site Address and postcode. Distance from supplied postcode.
• GetDispenserByNearest
  This method retrieves the 25 nearest pharmacies/appliance contractors to the supplied postcode and the service type/EPS status chosen. Parameters: FullPostCode - Full postcode to search on. ServiceType - The service type to search for. (i.e. Community (1) or Appliance(2)). Eps - Retrieve EPS enabled/ disabled. dispensers (YES/ NO) – The default value will be YES. Returns: The following is a digest of the returned data. Dispensing Site NACS Code. EPS Status. Dispensing Site Name. Dispensing Site contact details (telephone & fax). Dispensing Site Address and postcode. Distance from supplied postcode. Order - The results will be ordered by distance from the supplied postcode with the nearest appearing first in the list.