Dear Member

Each pharmacy contractor must prepare an annual report for each year ending 31 March, which must. We suggest that contractors get this completed by the end of this month (April 2024) —

• specify the number of complaints which the pharmacy contractor received;
  specify the number of complaints which the pharmacy contractor decided were well-founded;
• specify the number of complaints which the pharmacy contractor has been informed have been referred to the Health Service Commissioner to consider under the 1993 Act and

summarise—

• the subject matter of complaints that the pharmacy contractor received;
  any issues of general importance arising out of those complaints or how the complaints were handled;
• any matters where action has been or is to be taken to improve services due to those complaints.

The annual report must be available to any person on request.

The pharmacy contractor must also send a copy of its annual report to the local NHS England team as soon as reasonably practicable after the end of the year to which the report relates.

A template (attached) summary of complaints can be used to index complaints as they are received and closed. At the end of each year, all the information necessary to produce the annual report can be collated from this summary.

Local NHS Teams may ask pharmacies to produce evidence during monitoring visits that they comply with the complaints regulations.  Producing the summary of complaints, with collated copies of the complaints regulations, will provide proof. However, these forms contain sensitive personal information, which should not be disclosed unless the complainant has consented.  If the local NHS Team has decided to investigate a complaint made to it, then disclosing the information in the pharmacy’s complaint record may be appropriate.

Regards

PharmaPlus