The General Pharmaceutical Council received 1,118 new fitness-to-practise concerns between July and September, the highest number of concerns ever received.

The GPhC wrote in council papers that, in terms of scale, this represents a 30% increase from the previous quarter.  The papers said that the increase has had an impact on its timeliness at triage.

It continued:

“Our data shows an increase this quarter in concerns about customer service and pharmacy premises. These concerns tend to be about delays in medicines being dispensed, lack of stock and unanticipated pharmacy closures and could reflect the significant pressures being faced by community pharmacy. We haven’t seen a proportionate increase in concerns referred for investigation.”

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