Top 5 Rules - of internet / distance selling pharmacies UK

There are many things you need to do before setting up a distance selling pharmacy in the UK, here are the top 5, GPhC rules to be aware of:

1. Unrestricted, uninterrupted provision of essential services - during core and supplementary opening hours to persons anywhere in England who request those services. This means distance selling pharmacies, cannot offer the service to a select few individuals and cannot refuse the dispensing of NHS prescriptions "with reasonable promptness".
2. No face to face contact - distance selling pharmacies cannot have face to face contact with patients under the NHS essential services remit. However, enhanced services can be performed outside the pharmacy, for instance, the enhanced service of supervised consumption of methadone would require the pharmacy to dispense the methadone for subsequent consumption.
3. 40 core opening hours per week – they may choose to provide supplementary opening hours in addition, however, Christmas Day, Good Friday, Easter Sunday and bank holidays and the hours they would normally open that week count towards their 40 core opening hours and any supplementary opening hours.
4. Distance-selling pharmacies can provide appliances - except where those items require measuring and fitting, this activity cannot take place at the pharmacy premises.
5. Private services - can be provided from a distance selling pharmacy but would however need to ensure that no essential services are provided as a result of attendance of a patient or member of the public at the premises.

In all, if you start a distance selling pharmacy and find that it is failing financially you still have the option of going into the private sector, doing face to face consultations and offering private services such as blood tests.