Boots took 20 pharmacies off register within three months, GPhC data shows
Boots UK voluntarily applied to remove 20 pharmacies from the General Pharmaceutical Council’s (GPhC) register between late 2021 and early 2022, according to exclusive data shared by the regulator with C+D.
The earliest de-registration on the list occurred on November 11 last year, at branch located at the King’s Cross underground station in London.
The latest pharmacy to be de-registered was in Null, Durham on January 27, according to data the GPhC shared with C+D earlier this month (February 3).
The regulator noted that all the pharmacies were removed from the register voluntarily by Boots.
All pharmacies must be registered with the GPhC to practice in Great Britain, they added.
The GPhC spokesperson could not confirm whether the 20 pharmacies de-registered since November were part of the 22 branches in which Boots planned to cease pharmacy provision 'in the coming months', as the multiple announced last year.
When approached by C+D, Boots UK declined to comment on the GPhC’s list.
Potential reasons for de-registration
The regulator noted that Boots may have de-registered a pharmacy due to “a chemist moving from one premises to another”. In those cases, “the old site would still need to come off our register”, the spokesperson said.
“Some of the pharmacies may have been temporary pharmacies,” they continued.
They specified that the dates pharmacies are removed from the register “are not necessarily the dates they finish trading”. A pharmacy could have finished trading before coming off the register, they said.
Location of de-registered branches
According to the GPhC data, 13 of the 20 de-registered branches are located in England. Of these, three are located in London.
Use the map below to see where the 20 de-registered branches are located, according to the GPhC's data.
In 2019, Walgreens Boots Alliance announced that around 200 loss-making Boots pharmacies would close as part of a “store optimisation programme”, while the remaining branches would be subject to Boots’ digital and in-store transformation.
Meanwhile, in November last year, Boots UK confirmed it would cease the provision of pharmacy services in 22 stores, but could not disclose their locations at that time.
C+D understands that pharmacies that have closed in last year’s final fiscal quarter or this year’s first fiscal quarter fall under one of these restructuring programmes.
