General Pharmaceutical Council
The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) plans to launch an independent complaints review service, as part of wider work to ensure concerns are dealt with as efficiently as possible, it says.
A spokesperson for the GPhC told The Pharmaceutical Journal on 10 November 2026 that the regulator will introduce a Pharmacy Concerns Resolution Service (PCRS) as a proof-of-concept in early 2027.
“The service is not intended to replace regulatory action where there are serious concerns about patient safety, professionalism or public confidence,” the spokesperson said.
They added: “Rather, we are exploring whether some concerns could be addressed more effectively through earlier, constructive resolution, while maintaining our core focus on public protection.
“[The service] forms part of our wider work to ensure concerns are addressed in a way that is proportionate, effective and focused on achieving the right outcomes for patients, the public and pharmacy professionals.
“We believe it is important to test approaches that have the potential to support learning and improvement, provide a better experience for those involved in concerns and enable formal regulatory processes to remain focused on the most serious risks.”
The spokesperson also said that the regulator was working with legal firm Nockolds to develop the proof of concept and refine the service model.
In July 2025, the regulator’s council considered proposals to develop a pilot independent complaint handling service as the number of fitness-to-practise (FtP) complaints it received reached a record high.
Since then, in September 2026, the GPhC revealed that the number of FtP concerns it received rose by around one-third in 2025/2026, compared with the previous year.
The GPhC has failed to meet Professional Standards Authority standards on timeliness of dealing with FtP cases for eight years in a row.
Posting on LinkedIn on 9 November 2026, Dionne Spence, chief enforcement officer at the GPhC, said: “Not every concern requires a formal regulatory investigation, and for almost 90% of the concerns we receive, they do not. But every concern does deserve an opportunity to be heard and handled properly. Making a regulatory system better means being prepared to rethink how we do things.”
Spence added that while the new service would not solve workload challenges related to concerns overnight, “it is an important step towards removing non-regulatory concerns out of the [GPhC] Council’s oversight, ensuring that we are able to focus resources on getting regulatory concerns resolved quicker and more proportionately and reducing the emotional and financial toll that formal proceedings bring”.
Tase Oputu, president of the Royal College of Pharmacy, commented: “We welcome the introduction of the PCRS as a positive step towards more proportionate handling of concerns.
“Not every concern raised about a pharmacy professional needs a formal FtP investigation, and it’s important there are appropriate ways to resolve less serious issues.
“Being subject to a complaint can take a significant toll on an individual’s mental health and wellbeing, particularly when the process is prolonged. An alternative route to resolve concerns more quickly could help reduce this impact while encouraging learning and avoiding unnecessary escalation.
“It is important that this complements the GPhC’s regulatory role, ensuring serious concerns involving patient safety and public confidence continue to be investigated appropriately.”
