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The General Pharmaceutical Council has revealed plans to discourage the public from raising ‘inappropriate’ concerns by making public its criteria for launching a fitness to practise investigation. 

The plans, outlined in papers to be discussed at the GPhC’s council meeting on Thursday September 18, are aimed at bringing down record high concerns through advising the public that the regulator is “not a general pharmacy complaints body”.

The regulator said there is “no single explanation” for the increase in complaints it is receiving but added that online pharmacies, advertising, weight loss treatments and “inappropriate EPS nominations” have all contributed, adding that a rise in “general customer service concerns” has come amid greater expectations on overstretched pharmacies. 

A draft version of a public-facing statement setting out the ‘acceptance criteria’ used by the regulator to manage incoming concerns is included in the September meeting papers. 

The statement will inform the public that it is not for the GPhC “to resolve disputes, even when those disputes relate to pharmacy professionals or pharmacies”. 

It specifies that the GPhC is “unlikely” to investigate the following complaints unless there is evidence of patients coming to harm as a result: 

• One-off dispensing errors
• Delays in providing medicines to patients or issues relating to medicines delivery
• Contractual issues such as opening hours or non-availability of certain services
• Customer service matters such as not answering the telephone or complaints involving the retail sale of medicines. 

The draft statement adds: “Even where something has gone wrong, we do not have the power to require that an apology be given or to order that compensation be awarded. 

“Our role, which is governed by law, is limited to those matters where there is an ongoing risk to patient safety, or where public confidence could be seriously undermined in pharmacy.”

The draft statement goes on to list examples of the type of concerns it will consider, such as misconduct, criminal convictions and inadequate professional performance in the case of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians and governance and service provision in the case of pharmacy premises. 

The GPhC said that while adopting the acceptance criteria policy may lead to an “increase in dissatisfaction from people who have not received the outcome they may have hoped for,” it is necessary to stop the regulator becoming bogged down in unnecessary work. 

The number of concerns raised by the public has more than doubled in the past five years, said the GPhC, with 6,202 concerns in 2024-25 compared with 2,989 in 2020-21.

This has not led to a proportionate increase in concerns being referred for formal investigation. 

In July, the GPhC said the number of complaints it is receiving from the public is “unsustainable and wholly disproportionate” as it pledged to set up an independent service to handle “low level” complaints.  

Related: GPhC presses ahead with fee increases from September but postpones rises in 2026

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