Internet pharmacy

Patients to be able to nominate a pharmacy on NHS App more easily from July 2025

Rahul Singal, chief pharmacy and medicines information officer at NHS England, announced at the Clinical Pharmacy Congress 2025 that several other prescription-based user features would be introduced to the NHS App by early 2026.…

Online pharmacies more than twice as likely to fail regulatory standards, finds analysis

Exclusive: An analysis conducted by The Pharmaceutical Journal has found that between April 2024 and January 2025, 10% of distance-selling pharmacies failed General Pharmaceutical Council inspections compared with 5% of high street pharmacies.…

The big online pharmacy clampdown

Distance-selling pharmacies continue to fail inspections at a higher rate than their bricks-and-mortar counterparts. Will the General Pharmaceutical Council’s latest guidance successfully clamp down on rogue operators, or is more action needed?…

GPs raise confidentiality and safety concerns about online prescribing of weight-loss drugs

The Medical Defence Union has advised GPs to ensure that pharmacies review online records with patients to keep in line with prescribing guidelines.…

Online pharmacies to be inspected within six months of registration, says GPhC

The target for first inspections of new bricks-and-mortar pharmacies will be extended to 12 months.…

Unsafe online pharmacies serve as a warning in the move to a ‘digital first’ NHS

In this month’s health policy column, Andy Cowper looks at regulators’ long history of trying to ensure safe access to medicines online, considering the implications for medicine shortages.…

Online pharmacy activity linked to 40 open fitness-to-practise cases, says GPhC

Presenting at The Pharmacy Show on 13 October 2023, Roz Gittins revealed that 68% of online pharmacies were found to meet all regulatory standards at inspection, 17 percentage points lower than for registered pharmacies overall.…

Pharmacy regulator to require ‘two-way communication’ in new draft guidance

In its latest guidance, the regulator has expanded the list of medicines for which additional safeguards should be in place for online pharmacies.…

Pharmacy2U blocked from taking over LloydsDirect premises

The application was refused on the basis that the appeals committee “could not be satisfied that there are procedures likely to secure safe and effective provision of essential services”.…

The unregulated semaglutide prescribing circus

Why there should be stronger regulations around the prescribing of semaglutide, speaking from experience as a trainee pharmacist supplying this medicine from a community pharmacy in central London.…