The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) may give up powers that permit it to covertly surveil pharmacies, according to papers prepared for the regulator’s April 18 council meeting.

The regulator was granted powers to conduct “covert directed surveillance” such as audio and video recordings under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) in July 2018, to be used as part of its inspections enforcement. 

However, these powers have “never been used”, according to the December minutes of its audit and risk committee (ARC) published this week in the April council papers. 

Read more: GPhC has never used its ‘covert surveillance’ powers in investigations

The minutes said that the GPhC would consider “whether it was appropriate to retain the powers if they were unlikely to ever be used”.

They added that it would begin work to determine whether there were cases in which its RIPA powers “should be used”.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and police have their own powers of surveillance, possibly “negating the need” for the GPhC to have its own spying rights, according to the report.

Online pharmacy surveillance?

The GPhC’s ARC determined that a “future council workshop” should discuss the “ethical implications” of retaining its RIPA powers, including their possible use in investigating online pharmacies.

“We are considering our approach to the use of our RIPA powers as part of the ongoing development of our enforcement strategy and approach to the regulation of online pharmacies,” a GPhC spokesperson told C+D today (April 17). 

Read more: GPhC could use covert surveillance to tackle pharmacy POM diversion

They confirmed that there is no discussion of the issue scheduled for the council meeting taking place tomorrow, but that the work has already begun and further updates will be provided to the council when it has concluded. 

In 2019, the GPhC told C+D that it could use these powers if it received intelligence that medicines were being diverted from the supply chain and sold illegally by pharmacy professionals.

Read more: 'The GPhC is not quite Big Brother with its new surveillance powers'

But by 2021, the GPhC had not used its surveillance powers at all. At the time, a GPhC spokesperson told C+D that direct surveillance was a last resort in an investigation. 

In council papers from that year, the GPhC said it was “keeping under review” whether it needed to retain these powers since they were not being used.