Family owned pharmacy chain David Stearne Pharmacies in the north west of England has gone into administration just three months after the NHS Litigation Authority ruled that two of its premises had been operating illegally.
Administrators were appointed on March 14 to manage the assets and business of David Stearne Pharmacies, whose branches will remain open while a buyer is sought.
The decision follows disputes over two of the company's so-called "prescription ports" which it had been using to enable patients to collect medicines after they dropped prescriptions off at a neighbouring premises registered as a mail-order pharmacy business.
Last August two PCTs, Central and Eastern Cheshire and Halton and St Helens, removed David Stearne premises from their pharmaceutical lists because they said the port system was in breach of regulations.
In both cases customers were able to leave their prescriptions at premises, which were registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC), but were limited to dispensing via the internet or mail order. Patients could also collect their medicines from the "prescription port' next door.
Last August both PCTs ruled to remove two of the company's branches, one in Middlewich, Cheshire, and one in Runcorn, Halton, from their pharmaceutical lists.
But the pharmacy business appealed against both decisions, arguing that its prescription ports were not registered with the GPhC and that the public did not receive pharmaceutical services there.
It stressed that the registered premises were closed to the public, were accessed only by staff in a secure fashion and did not publish opening hours.
But in December the NHS Litigation Authority upheld the PCTs' decisions, ruling that the system was in breach of the regulations and dismissed the pharmacy's appeal.