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An online pharmacy based in Hertfordshire has been removed from the pharmaceutical list after it failed to dispense any NHS prescriptions for over three years. 

NHS Resolution decided on March 28 that Chemist Click should be removed from the list, rejecting the company’s appeal against an initial decision made by NHS Hertfordshire and West Essex ICB. 

Chemist Click made no claims for prescriptions or NHS services in the six months to October 8, 2024, NHS Business Services Authority data revealed – meaning the company was in violation of Regulation 74 of the 2013 pharmacy regulations. In fact, it had failed to provide any NHS services for over three years.   

NHSBSA also confirmed that a Pharmacy First setup payment of £2,000 was to be clawed back after Chemist Click failed to claim for any consultations within the timeframe set out in the drug tariff. 

An advance of £19.06 for two prescription items that were claimed for in November 2024 was also clawed back in order to service the company’s “outstanding negative” for Pharmacy First.

Superintendent 'unaware' 

Chemist Click superintendent pharmacist Abbas Kanani told appeals body NHS Resolution that when the company was included on the pharmaceutical list in 2019 the “initial plan was to begin offering NHS prescription services through a delivery model”.

However, he said that the “landscape for NHS pharmacies has changed drastically and offering this service was not commercially viable”.

He said he had been “unaware” of the regulation that requires listed pharmacies to provide NHS services continuously, adding that he would have made a “concerted effort” to comply with the rules had he known. 

He said there had been a “clear and exponential increase” in the number of NHS items dispensed since he was notified of the ICB’s decision to remove Chemist Click from the pharmaceutical list, and also questioned why the commissioner had waited more than three years before raising the issue. 

Working with NHS 'a nightmare'

Mr Kanani was also critical of what he described as delays in allowing distance dispensers to promote Pharmacy First through a listing on NHS Digital, saying that after “repeated delays” he had “lost momentum” despite his Local Pharmaceutical Committee reminding him the business had to carry out consultations to qualify for monthly payments.

He told the appeals committee that the process of fulfilling NHS prescriptions was “a nightmare” and also involved “significant delays,” commenting: “Even obtaining NHS tokens took weeks, requiring numerous follow-ups.” 

The company still provides private prescriptions through its website, and Mr Kanani contrasted the “easier market penetration” it has achieved in this sector with the difficulties it has faced when attempting to work within the NHS. 

NHS Resolution head of appeals Jonathan Haley agreed with the ICB that the company’s failure to provide services for a period longer than six months went against the relevant regulations and upheld the decision to remove it from the pharmaceutical list.