Reading List

A curated Reading List to support and extend learning from the Complaints Management in Pharmacy Practice course.

These resources are aimed at pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, dispensers, medicines counter staff, delivery staff, managers, locums and other pharmacy team members. They offer practical guidance on complaint routes, professional and regulatory standards, raising concerns, fair complaint handling, NHS complaints procedures, and escalation when local resolution has not worked.

1. Pharmacy Standards and Raising Concerns

• GPhC - Standards for registered pharmacies
  This page sets out the standards that registered pharmacies in Great Britain must meet, including expectations for how concerns about the pharmacy should be received and acted on.
  https://inspections.pharmacyregulation.org/standards

• GPhC - Contact us / Report a concern
  This public-facing GPhC page signposts the regulator's Reporting a Concern form and helps distinguish concerns that may require regulatory reporting from routine service complaints that should usually remain with the pharmacy's complaints process.
  https://inspections.pharmacyregulation.org/about-us/contact-us

2. NHS Complaints Routes in England

• NHS England - Feedback and complaints about NHS services
  Explains how complaints about NHS services work in England, including whether to complain to the service provider or the commissioner and what complainants should expect from the process.
  https://www.england.nhs.uk/contact-us/feedback-and-complaints/complaint/

• NHS England - Contact your local integrated care board (ICB)
  The NHS England page for finding local ICB contact details, including feedback and complaint routes for primary care services such as pharmacy services.
  https://www.england.nhs.uk/contact-us/about-nhs-services/contact-your-local-integrated-care-board-icb/

3. Complaint Handling Standards, Escalation, and Safety Reporting

• PHSO - NHS Complaint Standards: Summary of expectations
  A governance resource on how organisations providing NHS services in England should approach complaint handling, emphasising early resolution, fair process, learning and service improvement.
  https://www.ombudsman.org.uk/organisations-we-investigate/complaint-standards/nhs-complaint-standards/nhs-complaint-standards-summary-expectations

• PHSO - Complaints about the NHS: getting started
  Explains the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman's role as the final stage for unresolved complaints about NHS services in England and what complainants should do before escalating a case there.
  https://www.ombudsman.org.uk/complaints-about-nhs-getting-started

• NHS England - Incident reporting system
  This page sets out pharmacy requirements for patient safety incident recording in England, including keeping a patient safety incident log and recording qualifying events through the Learn from Patient Safety Events service (LFPSE).
  https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/incident-reporting-system/

4. Scotland and Wales Guidance

• NHS Inform - Making a complaint about your NHS care or treatment
  Explains the NHS Complaints Handling Procedure in Scotland and notes that complaints about a pharmacy should normally be made to the pharmacy first.
  https://www.nhsinform.scot/care-support-and-rights/health-rights/feedback-and-complaints/making-a-complaint-about-your-nhs-care-or-treatment/

• GOV.WALES - Listening to People: NHS Wales complaints, incidents and redress process
  The NHS Wales complaints page introduced on 1 April 2026, explaining the new route for raising concerns about NHS services in Wales and linking to public guidance documents.
  https://www.gov.wales/listening-people-nhs-wales-complaints-incidents-and-redress-process

5. Northern Ireland Guidance

• PSNI - The Code, Standards and Guidance
  The main PSNI standards page, including the revised Code that took effect on 26 January 2026 and the professional expectations for pharmacists in Northern Ireland.
  https://psni.org.uk/the-code-standards-and-guidance/

• PSNI - Raising Concerns and Fitness to Practise Guidance
  Explains how to raise a concern about a pharmacist, pharmacy or pharmacy owner in Northern Ireland and sets out what PSNI can and cannot investigate.
  https://psni.org.uk/raising-concerns-and-fitness-to-practise-guidance/

Use these readings to strengthen your knowledge of complaint routes, local resolution, professional standards, regulatory concerns, NHS complaint handling, patient safety reporting and nation-specific arrangements relevant to pharmacy practice.