The decision was taken “in light of the current situation” and will be reviewed in the new year, a General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) spokesperson told C+D this afternoon (December 14).

“Instead, our inspectors will continue to support pharmacies with the rollout of the vaccination programme, providing support to pharmacies and signposting, to help ensure that the accelerated programme can be delivered safely and effectively,” they added.

Intelligence-led inspections will continue

Routine inspections include visits to new pharmacies and reviews of pharmacies that had previously not met all standards, the spokesperson clarified.

However, the GPhC will continue to carry out intelligence-led inspections where it believes there could be a risk to patient safety, they said.

“As we have done throughout the pandemic, we will continue to act quickly on any information we receive that suggests a risk to patient safety by undertaking intelligence-led inspections”, the spokesperson added.

The regulator had resumed visits to newly registered pharmacies and to pharmacies that has previously not met all its standards from April this year, “focusing on those pharmacies with published inspection reports where a six-month re-inspection was due”.

Prior to that, the regulator had paused routine inspections from March 2020 due to the “significant challenges” pharmacy teams faced because of COVID-19.

In May this year, the regulator announced that it was looking at introducing a “risk-based and proportionate routine inspection programme”.

However, the GPhC spokesperson told C+D today that there are no updates on this programme, as the regulator’s focus at present is responding to the pandemic.

The GPhC’s decision follows calls from the Prime Minister and the NHS in England to accelerate the booster vaccination programme, to ensure all adults are offered their third dose by the end of the year.