• GPhC says Pharmacy2U failed to deliver medicines in a "timely manner" over Christmas


• Pharmacy2U did not identify and manage risks to patients during recent move to new premises, regulator says after inspection


• The online business must "urgently" improve service and faces follow-up inspection

The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has called on Pharmacy2U to "urgently" improve its service after it failed to deliver prescriptions over Christmas.

Pharmacy2U announced last month that it was experiencing "unforeseen difficulties" with its move to a new "automated facility", which meant it would be unable to deliver any medicines to patients until January 11.

The business's customer services team has contacted affected patients to assist them with collecting their medicines elsewhere, Pharmacy2U managing director Daniel Lee told C+D today (January 6).

Failure to meet some standards

The GPhC told C+D that its inspection of the business on December 22 revealed that it had failed to meet some of the regulator's standards for registered pharmacies.

Pharmacy2U failed to identify and manage the risks to patients posed by the company's move to a new premises, the GPhC said. It had also failed to supply drugs to some patients "in a timely manner", the regulator told C+D.

The online pharmacy must "urgently put in place an action plan" describing how it will improve its delivery service, and the GPhC will conduct a follow-up inspection to ensure this has been implemented, it stressed.

"Extremely sorry"

In a statement on its website yesterday (January 5), Pharmacy2U said it is "extremely sorry" for the delays to its deliveries. The issues are "being resolved", and staff are processing delayed orders "as quickly as possible", it stressed.

New orders will be dispensed from next Monday (January 11), it added.

Read Pharmacy2U's full statement below:

Important notice (January 5, 2016): We apologise about the recent delays on prescription orders, which were caused by unforeseen difficulties in transferring to our new automated dispensing centre.

These operational issues are now being resolved and our experienced dispensary team is processing delayed orders as quickly as possible. New orders will be dispensed from Monday 11 January 2016.

If you are concerned that your medication won't be received soon enough, we can assist you in having this dispensed elsewhere if necessary. Please contact us on 0113 265 0222 or email us on the link below and select "Urgent Prescriptions" from the drop-down list of subjects.

We are extremely sorry that these exceptional circumstances resulted in our service falling below its usual high standard. Please accept our sincere apologies for any inconvenience it has caused you.

More Pharmacy2U news... 

GPhC to carry out 'special inspection' of Pharmacy2U

Pharmacy2U sees EPS boost after data-selling scandal

Lawyer: GPhC could take action against Pharmacy2U employees

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