Our Privacy Notice

Published on: 24th May 2018 | Updated on: 30th May 2023

Community Pharmacy

We process the names and contact details of community pharmacy contractors (as well as limited purchase information for medicines they purchase), Local Pharmaceutical Committee (LPC) Officers, Members and staff, in England, and others (e.g. commissioners and press contacts), for the purposes set out in our Constitution, which are broadly:

Representing, supporting and promoting NHS community pharmacies – We work with contractors, LPCs, NHS England and other NHS bodies, and with the Department of Health and Social Care and others, to support community pharmacies and LPCs, promote opportunities for the development of community pharmacy services and negotiate the contractual terms for the provision of NHS community pharmacy services.

Auditing the community pharmacy margin survey – We check an official survey carried out in accordance with legislation, which measures the purchasing margin on medicines available to community pharmacy as part of the remuneration of community pharmacy.

 

Patients/Prescriptions

We process information relating to prescriptions dispensed to patients and corresponding community pharmacy payments, where details of the dispensed medicines and payments are visible to us, but not patient or prescriber details. We also process some prescriptions where names and addresses of patients and prescribers are visible to us. This is for the purposes of:

Community Pharmacy payments – checking the accuracy of payments to community pharmacies and negotiating with relevant authorities such as NHS England, NHS Business Services Authority and the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership.

We also process information relating to Committee members, staff and suppliers’, which includes their name, address, contact details, bank account and, for staff, pension details.

 

Our processing and your rights

We process current information relating to community pharmacy contractors, LPCs and others, as well as Committee members, in the legitimate interests of Community Pharmacy England.

We process information relating to the margin survey in the performance of a task in the public interest. You may object to us holding your information.

We process prescriptions and information relating to prescriptions in the performance of a task in the public interest, for the management of the health system.  A pharmacist is responsible for the processing of the information. You may object to us holding your information.

We process this staff and suppliers’ information as necessary for the relevant contract and, as applicable, for legal reasons.

We process and hold prescription information for 18 months and other information for as long as is necessary in order to carry out our services and activities.

Generally, you have a right to a copy of your personal data that we process. Anybody whose data we process may ask us to correct any inaccurate information.

If you object to our processing of your data, please contact our Data Protection Officer. You may also lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF. Please ask if you want more information.

You may choose to opt out of the NHS using your data for planning and research purposes; for details, please see the information provided by NHS Digital.

Click here to view our Privacy and Cookies policy.

Our Data Protection Officer is Gordon Hockey, reach him via email or by calling 0203 1220 810

 

Complaints

Concerns and issues about Community Pharmacy England or its work may be raised in a variety of ways.

  • Formal complaints or concerns from a contractor may be raised through the Community Pharmacy England Committee Member who represents the contractor (i.e. the member they have appointed or elected), or through the contractor’s LPC.
  • Complaints from contractors, LPCs or from anyone else, including patients, may also be raised with any Community Pharmacy England Committee Member including Subcommittee Chairs; or directly with the Chief Executive, staff members or the Chair of Community Pharmacy England.
  • Anyone can raise a complaint about Community Pharmacy England via email. Complaints sent to this email address are considered by the Chair of the Review and Audit Panel or by the Chief Executive, as appropriate.