The number of fitness-to-practise concerns received by the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) saw a "marked reduction", from 681 for April-June to 635 for July-September, it revealed in council papers published earlier this month.

The average number of concerns received per month currently stands at 220, down from the 230 average for the fiscal year to date, it added.

This “marked reduction...could be attributed to the summer period, including the exceptional weather, the World Cup, Wimbledon and the school summer holidays”, the GPhC speculated.

This summertime lull was not enough to prevent the continuing “upward trend” from previous years, it pointed out, with 72 more concerns received in July-September 2018 compared with the same period the previous year.

While the number of concerns dropped as low as 196 in both July and September this year, August saw the second highest number of concerns the regulator has ever received in a single month – at 243 – it told C+D.