The Pharmacy (Premises Standards, Information Obligations, etc.) Order 2016 (Commencement) (England, Wales and Scotland) Order of Council 2018

Statutory Instruments

2018 No. 512 (C. 42)

Health Care And Associated Professions

The Pharmacy (Premises Standards, Information Obligations, etc.) Order 2016 (Commencement) (England, Wales and Scotland) Order of Council 2018

Made

18th April 2018

At the Council Chamber, Whitehall, the 18th day of April 2018

By the Lords of Her Majesty’s Most Honourable Privy Council

Their Lordships make the following Order of Council in exercise of the powers conferred by article 1(3) and (4) of the Pharmacy (Premises Standards, Information Obligations, etc.) Order 2016(1), having consulted the Scottish Ministers(2).

Citation and commencement

1.  This Order may be cited as the Pharmacy (Premises Standards, Information Obligations, etc.) Order 2016 (Commencement) (England, Wales and Scotland) Order of Council 2018.

Appointed day

2.—(1) 24th May 2018 is the appointed day for the coming into force of the following provisions of the Pharmacy (Premises Standards, Information Obligations, etc.) Order 2016—

(a) in Part 2, subject to paragraph (2)—

(i) articles 5 to 7, and

(ii) articles 9 to 11; and

(b) Part 4.

(2) Sub-paragraph (a) of paragraph (1) commences the articles mentioned in that sub-paragraph solely for the purpose of amending the Medicines Act 1968(3) as it applies in England, Wales and Scotland.

Richard Tilbrook

Clerk of the Privy Council

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order of Council provides for the commencement on 24th May 2018 – for England, Wales and Scotland – of all the provisions of the Pharmacy (Premises Standards, Information Obligations, etc.) Order 2016 (“the 2016 Order”) which relate to the law of England, Wales and Scotland but which are not yet in force.

The 2016 Order principally makes provision relating to the setting of standards for the safe and effective practice of pharmacy at registered pharmacies – and relating to the enforcement of those standards. In England, Wales and Scotland these are functions of the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC).

The enforcement provisions relating to the premises standards set by GPhC are set out partly in the Pharmacy Order 2010 and partly in Part 4 of the Medicines Act 1968. The enforcement provisions in Part 4 of the Medicines Act 1968 are used by both the GPhC and the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland, but the changes made by the 2016 Order to Part 4 are only commenced in relation to England, Wales and Scotland – not in relation to Northern Ireland.

The enforcement changes that are commenced for England, Wales and Scotland apply not just to breaches of premises standards but also to other obligations upon owners of retail pharmacy businesses. This enforcement regime was updated by the 2016 Order so that it now includes, for example, powers to impose interim measures against pharmacy owners where an investigation has been commenced but has not reached the stage of a final hearing – and provisions relating to the publication of reports of inspections.

There have also been changes to the information gathering powers in the Pharmacy Order 2010 that relate to pharmacy owners and to the notification requirements in that Order relating to the death of a pharmacist.

(1)

S.I. 2016/372.

(2)

See article 4(3) of S.I. 2016/372.

(3)

1968 c. 67.