The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) found that former-Royal-Warrant-holding, Harley-Street-bordering pharmacy John Bell & Croyden did not meet all of its standards after an inspection last month (October 16).
The regulator said that the pharmacy did not meet standards for its first principle - “governance” - after an inspector found that “pharmacy-only medicines (P-meds), including medicines liable to misuse, are available for sale in the retail area and sold by staff who are not healthcare trained”.
It added that these “higher risk medicines were stored in the retail area in perspex boxes away from the medicines counter and people could select and make payment at other till points in the store”.
Read more: Well parent company snags ‘iconic’ late Queen’s pharmacy John Bell & Croyden
“Retail team members had not received any formal healthcare training and they were not fully aware of the questions they needed to ask when selling medicines to make sure the sales was appropriate,” it said.
“This meant people might not always receive the right advice and information when purchasing P-medicines, including higher risk medicines liable to misuse,” it added.
“The pharmacy is unable to demonstrate that it has sufficiently managed the risks of doing this,” it stressed, although it said that apart from this the pharmacy “adequately manages the risks associated with its other services”.
“Improvement action plan”
The regulator set out an “improvement action plan” for John Bell & Croyden to act on by December 5.
In it, the GPhC laid out instructions to “remove high-risk P-meds from areas that are not visible from the pharmacy area and [place them] behind the pharmacy counter immediately” and move P-meds in perspex boxes to locations “in the direct line of sight of the pharmacist and dispensary team”.
It added that the pharmacy must “ensure all colleagues including new joins are enrolled on the Medicines Counter Assistant (MCA) course”.
Read more: Inside the Queen’s pharmacy: From flu jabs to the coronation anointing oil
And it said that it must undertake a “risk assessment” and “define the principles in displaying P-meds in [a] General Sales List (GSL) area”.
“We monitor progress to check the improvements are made and inspect again after six months to make sure the pharmacy is maintaining these improvements – a new report will then be published,” the GPhC said.
Well Pharmacy’s parent company Bestway Healthcare, which owns the historic pharmacy, yesterday (November 21) told C+D that “during a recent GPhC inspection of our John Bell & Croyden Pharmacy, the inspector highlighted concerns in relation to the location of some of our over-the-counter medication”.
“We have undertaken corrective measures to address these concerns and to ensure our pharmacy continues to operate in a safe and effective manner,” the spokesperson added.
A royal blunder
Last summer, Well chief executive Seb Hobbs announced via LinkedIn that Bestway had acquired the London luxury business from Lloydspharmacy holding company Hallo Healthcare.
In 1928, the business was acquired by pharmacy company Savory & Moore and was passed between various owners before becoming part of Hallo Healthcare.
“Pioneering” pharmacist John Bell opened the original pharmacy on Oxford Street in 1798, according to its website.
Read more: From the archive - The Queen’s Pharmacy
His son Jacob Bell founded the Pharmaceutical Society in 1841 – now known as the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) – it said.
John Bell & Croyden held a Royal Warrant as the official pharmacy of the late Queen Elizabeth II from 1958 until her death in 2022.
It remains unclear which pharmacy now holds the Royal Warrant.
