Chemists in UK practise their profession after obtaining a formal MPharm degree and undergoing 1-year preregistration training. They are well versed with the legal classification of medicines listed in ‘Medicines, Ethics and Practice: A guide for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians’, an annual publication of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society. They also possess information on controlled drugs, adverse drug reactions and yellow card reporting, drug alerts and recalls due to report of adverse reactions and counterfeit medicines and medical devices.

Pharmacists in UK are allowed to practise as approved pharmacist prescribers and their entry is annotated with either ‘sp’ or ‘ip’ in the Register of Pharmacists. A pharmacist listed as ‘sp’ is one who can practise as a supplementary prescriber and they must work in partnership with a registered medical practitioner as an independent prescriber. A chemist with ‘ip’ annotation is permitted to practise as independent prescriber, without the partnership of a medical practitioner. However, an ‘ip’ chemist cannot prescribe medicines in the Controlled Drugs list, whilst a ‘sp’ chemist can prescribe them with the permission of the independent prescriber. Practising pharmacists have a P against their entry in the RPSGB list, whilst an N means that they are not practising.

With the advent of the Internet, many registered pharmacies and chemists are providing online pharmacy services. However, several websites sell medicines directly from suppliers. It is possible that the suppliers and/or the websites will not have any healthcare experience or even a professional qualification. Buying medicines from such websites carry a fair amount of risk. It is also likely that the medicines offered by them will not be meeting the standards prescribed by the UK authorities. Hence, the RPSGB has promoted a logo that will be displayed on the pharmacy websites of the pharmacies that are participatory to the RPSGB programmes.

All the chemists and pharmacy technicians registered with the RPSGB are bound to follow the Code of Ethics prescribed by the institution. The institution had provided the following 7 supporting documents for professional standards as well as guidance of the chemists.

• Professional standards for pharmacists, as well as pharmacy technicians, particularly for those in positions that have prescribing authority

• Guidance and standards regarding patient consent

• Guidance and standards on patient confidentiality

• Guidance and standards for supply and sale of medicines

• Guidance and standards for promotional advertisements on professional services and medicines

• Guidance and standards for online pharmacy or chemist services

• Guidance and standards for all pharmacist prescribers

If at any time, you have a complaint against chemists, pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and owners of pharmacies, you can lodge the same with us, which will be forwarded to the RPSGB. Alternatively, you can directly register the complaint with the RPSGB. The complaints can be about the type of professional service rendered by the chemist like wrong labelling, dispensing error, supply of out of date medicine, etc. You can also complaint against any type of unprofessional behaviour by the chemists or the owners of pharmacies. The RPSGB will ensure that the concerned persons immediately comply with the Code of Ethics and with the other laws that relate to medicines and poisons.