The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) received a “new record high” number of possible FtP concerns in the fourth quarter of its 2023/24 financial year, according to papers prepared for its council meeting last week (June 13).
Concerns rocketed 31% compared to the previous year, with the regulator receiving 1,423 concerns in the fourth quarter and a total of 5,477 for the year, the papers revealed.
Read more: FtP concerns from public spike as pharmacies see ‘increased pressures’
Faced with a record influx, the GPhC said that it assessed 5,318 concerns in the year - up 27% year-on-year – and concluded 69 substantive FtP hearings compared with 39 the previous year.
The regulator also reduced the average time that it took to “triage” a concern to 12 days - “a promising reduction”, it added.
Rising risk
But the GPhC flagged that the greater number of concerns and its improved productivity increase the risk that it could be “failing to act on serious concerns effectively”.
And it added that its “organisational capacity…continues to be a challenge”.
Despite this, it said it had chosen to keep “a reduced headcount” among its professionals regulation manager (PRM) team after losing 40% of its headcount.
Read more: GPhC: Almost 2,000 FtP concerns raised about online pharmacies since 2019
Meanwhile, the GPhC said that its FtP performance remained “red” despite some progress.
While its investigating committee achieved its “highest quarterly return for two years” of 23 closed or referred cases during the fourth quarter, the FtP committee finished “far lower than projected” with just 13 cases, it added.
FtP worries
In May, the GPhC announced that it had appointed the Electoral Commission’s Louise Edwards to replace retiring Mark Voce as its chief strategy officer.
And in October 2023, it appointed two new executive-level members of staff to lead as its chief pharmacy officer and chief enforcement officer.
Read more: Health secretary alerted as GPhC fails FtP standard for fifth consecutive year
In September last year, the Professional Standards Authority (PSA) wrote to the health secretary as the GPhC failed to meet its FtP standard for the fifth consecutive year.
In its council meeting from the same month, the regulator said that an “increase in concerns” against pharmacists from members of the public was adding pressure to its FtP department.
