GPhC to create disqualification powers policy

The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) is set to cut the number of full disqualification hearings it holds against pharmacy owners, as part of a new policy on how the regulator uses its disqualification powers.

Since 2018, the GPhC’s fitness to practise (FtP) committee has had powers to disqualify individuals from owning pharmacies and remove licensed premises attached to pharmacy owners from its register, under the Medicines Act 1968.

Yet to date, the regulator has not produced an overarching policy to guide investigators and those responsible for handing down decisions.

The GPhC said it had now ‘recognised the need to develop a policy to support our teams investigating these cases and decision-makers dealing with these cases’.

In the process of working on the new policy, the GPhC said it has reviewed all its open disqualification cases.

The review highlighted ‘a limited number of cases’ where pharmacy owners have themselves removed all their premises from the register since their case was opened.

‘We have taken the view that it would not be in the public interest to progress these cases to a full disqualification hearing,’ the GPhC said.

This is because ‘there is no current risk to the public’ and it did not consider the significant resources needed to pursue the cases further would be proportionate. The GPhC will recommend the cases be closed, it added.

The regulator said any information it holds on pharmacy owners can still be used to stop them from owning premises in the future.

‘We believe that by taking this approach, we can still achieve our over-arching objective of protecting the public without holding full disqualification hearings,’ it said.

‘We intend to invite our fitness to practise committee to close these cases on the basis they are no longer in the public interest.

‘We will take steps to bring these cases to a resolution while we develop a full disqualification policy.’

In 2024, the GPhC failed to meet Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care (PSA) timeliness standards for FtP investigations for the sixth year in a row.

Last week, the GPhC announced it will be pushing forward with a 6% increase in its annual registration fees this year despite strong opposition from the profession.