Earlier this month (October 2), the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) announced in its annual report for 2024/25 that it had received one corporate complaint that was upheld and five that were partially upheld.
Now, C+D can exclusively reveal the reasons behind the complaints against the regulator.
Read more: GPhC whistleblower disclosures rocket up 208% in a year
The GPhC last week (October 21) told C+D that the upheld complaint, relating to processes and procedures, specifically concerned the regulator’s “communication regarding [the] closure of a concern”.
And it said that two of the partially upheld complaints relating to “conduct and behaviour” and processes and procedures regarded its “communication with the complainant”.
The remaining three partially upheld complaints related to the outcome of a regulatory decision - concerning the “lack of response to one email”, the “initially incorrect identification of a concern jurisdiction” and “incomplete information in a concern response” respectively, it added.
The GPhC said in its report that it had received 30 corporate complaints overall – including four more regarding its processes and 20 more about its decision outcomes that were dismissed - meaning 20% were either fully or partially upheld.
The regulator looks “to learn from all complaints whether they are upheld or not”, it added.
FtP delays
Meanwhile, the report also found that while there was “little change” in the number of fitness-to-practise (FtP) committee hearings held compared to the previous year, the number of days required to resolve the cases “increased by 25%”.
“This was slightly less than the 30% increase that we projected at the start of the year, but will continue well into 2025/26 and beyond,” the regulator said.
And it added that the growing timescales reflect the “increased complexity of the cases progressing to hearing”.
Read more: Weight loss jabs: Almost 750 GPhC concerns raised this year
It comes after C+D exclusively revealed that the GPhC has received almost 750 concerns relating to the “prescribing and oversight” of weight loss medicines this year so far.
The regulator this month told C+D that it began recording information on issues specific to weight management in January 2025.
Since then, 746 weight loss drug-related concerns have been raised with the GPhC, it said.
