Online Pharmacy Regulation

The CQC (Care Quality Commission) ensures that a healthcare provider meets the national standards set in the UK for their industry. As well as online pharmacies, the CQC also regulates your local GP and assess them to the same standards, as well as, dentists, social care, care homes and more.

Being registered with the CQC ensures that a healthcare provider is undergoing regular inspections and is complying with UK laws and regulations to protection to patients. As part of a CQC inspection, they ensure that:

• a provider is prescribing medicines safely & in line with current national guidelines
• the provider has adequate insurance in place
• the healthcare professionals working for the provider have the necessary qualifications and training
• there are robust policies & procedures in place to offer a safe & effective service
• there is an open & honest culture that accepts feedback and implements continual improvement

For more information see the CQC website.

Choosing an online provider that is registered with the CQC is important as it ensures they operate to the highest standards and are accountable for their actions. It is possible for online pharmacies to avoid CQC regulation by using solely pharmacists to prescribe medicines or by using companies based outside of the UK to employ doctors. Patients should be wary of online providers who are not registered with the CQC.

The prescribing of prescription medicines through our website is carried out by our sister company, Red Label Medical Ltd (Company Reg. No. 08676338). The service is registered with the Care Quality Commission in the UK (Reg. No. 1-10976213225).

You can share feedback on your experience with our service using the 'Share Your Experience' form at www.cqc.org.uk/yourexperience

The registered manager is Scott McDougall.

The GMC (General Medical Council) regulate all doctors registered in the UK. They ensure that a doctor’s training is up to date, manage the UK medical register, set the standards for doctors to follow, and address concerns about a doctor’s practice or behaviour. Any doctor practising in the UK must be registered with the GMC to be able to work in the UK.

All our doctors are registered with the General Medical Council in the UK ensuring that they are fit to practice and are able to provide you with a high level of care. You can find the registration details for each doctor on our About Us page.

For more information see the GMC website.

The GPhC (General Pharmaceutical Council) uphold the national standards expected for all registered pharmacists and pharmacies. These are the same standards whether it is your local chemist or an online (distance-selling) pharmacy. They ensure that pharmacists have the appropriate registration and training to practice, that pharmacies are regularly inspected against national standards and any concerns about a pharmacist or pharmacy are investigated.

The Independent Pharmacy premises are registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council (Reg No. 1120908) and the industry trade body, the National Pharmacy Association.

Our doctors are supported by our prescribing pharmacists, who have all undergone extra training to enable them to prescribe treatments for all the medical conditions that we are able to treat. They all have a wealth of experience and are registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council. For more information see the NHS article - 'Who can write a prescription?'.

For more information see the GPhC Pharmacy Regulations page.

Our Superintendent Pharmacist, Mr Ant Boysan BPharm (GPhC No. 2047716), is registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council.

Check our Superintendent's registration here. You can find the registration details for each of our pharmacists on our About Us page.

LegitScript is an organisation that has partnered with the likes of Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Visa to help inform the public about which commercial entities are legitimate, legal, and trustworthy — and which are not.

LegitScript is a voluntary registration for online pharmacies to show that they comply with all legal and regulatory standards. If a website is registered with LegitScript, you can be confident that they are operating legally and any treatment you receive is likely to be safe, effective and genuine.

You can find more information on the Legitscript website.

Before the UK left the European Union, the MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency) certified that a pharmacy has the necessary legal regulation to display medicines for sale on their website. This covered everything from a small pack of paracetamol to prescription-only medicines.

This meant that the medicines that you receive are likely to be genuine as you need to be a registered pharmacy to hold MHRA registration. However, being certified by the MHRA on its own did not guarantee that a website is providing prescription-only medicines in a safe or legal manner - you also need other regulators to ensure that the prescribing of medicines is done with patient safety in mind.

Since Brexit, the MHRA no longer provides certification to websites selling medicines as this was an EU scheme.

We are a registered limited company based in the UK and display our contact information clearly on every page of our website. We take customer care very seriously. If you are in any doubt please contact us for reassurance.

You will always undergo a private online consultation and be issued with a legal private prescription for any prescription-only medication that is requested. Websites that offer medicines without a consultation and prescription are likely to be unregulated meaning that you have no guarantee that the medicine you receive is genuine and no protection as a consumer or patient. For more information, read our posts 'How to Spot a Genuine Online Pharmacy' and 'How to Buy Medicine Online Safely'.

The Independent Pharmacy will always provide follow-up care after you have received any medication from our Online Pharmacy to ensure you have all the information and support you require. Our customer support team is available by telephone and email to ensure that any questions you have are answered.

All the information we have provided on this website is for information purposes only and is there to supplement the care you receive from your healthcare providers, not replace it. Please carefully read all the information that we provide to ensure the product that we provide to you is both safe and effective and always read the box and leaflet when you receive your product, prior to taking. If you believe you have a health condition or are going to take any new medication or supplement, please consult your doctor first to ensure it is appropriate. Please see our Terms & Conditions for more details.

All treatments provided by The Independent Pharmacy are for adults only (18 years and above).

The Independent Pharmacy provides an online healthcare service for a range of non-acute health conditions, sexual health issues and contraception. It involves private and confidential online health consultations with a medical practitioner, the provision of individual health advice and the issuing of private prescriptions for medicines. When placing an order, The Independent Pharmacy will ask you to fill out a questionnaire so that one of our prescribers can assess the current state of your health as well as your medical history and any other relevant information. In some cases, you may be required to provide further information to allow us to be sure that the treatment is going to be safe and effective for you.

For questions or advice about your medical condition or treatment, you can contact us by telephone, email or live chat for any healthcare advice from our qualified pharmacists.

We always put the health and well-being of our patients first. If a patient has a more immediate healthcare need or is unsuitable for the types of treatment offered, they will be informed of this by our healthcare team and offered advice and a referral to the appropriate service.

For more information on referrals to the appropriate healthcare service, see our Referrals page here:

https://www.theindependentpharmacy.co.uk/urgent-care-services

You can find a full list of the medical conditions that we treat here:

https://www.theindependentpharmacy.co.uk/conditions

You can find a full list of the medical treatments that we provide here:

https://www.theindependentpharmacy.co.uk/treatments

The Independent Pharmacy is not an emergency service - in a medical emergency, you should contact 999.

The Independent Pharmacy is owned and operated by ABSM Healthcare Ltd from GPhC-registered pharmacy premises run by qualified pharmacists. The Independent Pharmacy aims to provide a high quality, online healthcare service which includes submitting confidential health assessments to a qualified medical practitioner and the private prescribing of commonly-used prescription medicines.

We are registered as a limited company with Companies House (Reg No. 08515600) and VAT registered (VAT Reg No. 176 5900 90).

The registered address is ABSM Healthcare Ltd, Units 19 -20 Bonville Business Centre, Dixon Road, Brislington, Bristol, BS4 5QR.

There may be, on occasion, a time when a patient wishes to comment or complain about the service they have received from The Independent Pharmacy. We welcome all feedback about our service and will strive to resolve any negative experience our customers have experienced.

Should you wish to contact us to comment or complain please contact Andy Boysan by emailing support@thindependentpharmacy.co.uk. Alternatively, please send your correspondence to Mr Andy Boysan, The Independent Pharmacy, Units 19 - 20 Bonville Business Centre, Dixon Road, Brislington, Bristol, BS4 5QR. You will always receive a reply within 7 days.

We will log and analyse all complaints we receive so that we can monitor the types of problems, the best way to resolve them and how long we are taking to deal with them.

Alternatively, you may contact the CQC with feedback on our service. This can be done at www.cqc.org.uk or by telephone on 03000 616161. Alternatively, you can contact them in writing at Care Quality Commission, National Correspondence, Citygate, Gallowgate, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 4PA.

The Independent Pharmacy looks to obtain feedback on the quality of our service and patient satisfaction after every consultation. You will receive an email from us to give you the chance to offer feedback or ask questions

We also collect reviews and feedback through the independent review services, Trustpilot, Reviews.io, and Google.

You can offer feedback at any time by email or telephone.