A mystery shopping scheme launched by the NPA and RPSGB is welcome, but must have safeguards in place, industry insiders have said.

Shoppers will test pharmacy staff in a range of scenarios, such as the supply of pseudoephedrine or ephedrine-containing medicines, and provide feedback to help them where necessary.

But Shafique Govani, head of the Beta Buying Group, said although the scheme was "a good idea" he hoped any negative findings would not be punished by Society regulators. He also said such findings should only be revealed to the pharmacists concerned, not collated and reported nationally.

The Society said it was in the process of recruiting a project manager for the scheme and had not yet finalised all the scenarios to be used or their target pharmacies.

Roger Walker, chair of the Commission on Human Medicine's pseudoephedrine working group, said he thought the move was a "positive development" as it could reinforce the need for caution when selling medicines containing pseudoephedrine.