The PSA publishes its review of the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland’s performance for 2024/25

We have today published our annual performance review of the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland (PSNI). During 2024/2025, we monitored the regulator’s performance against the Standards of Good Regulation (the Standards).

For this period, the PSNI has met 14 out of the 18 Standards. Our report explains how we made our decision.   

As our report sets out, we have seen an improvement in the PSNI’s performance compared to last year, when we concluded that it met only 11 of our 18 Standards of Good Regulation; this year, the PSNI has met 14 Standards. We welcome this improvement and appreciate the constructive engagement from the PSNI throughout this time. However, many of the areas of improvement relate to work we would expect regulators to be carrying out as a matter of course, and there are still a number of significant issues that are yet to be addressed.

The PSNI did not meet Standard 2 last year because, for much of the year, we saw the PSNI make little progress on a variety of key projects such as publication of a new Corporate Strategy, the review of The Code, guidance for registrants, education reform and improvements to its website. The PSNI has addressed most of the issues we identified last year, but there was evidence of it failing to prioritise and deliver in certain respects again this year. The PSNI’s decision not to publish its 2025-30 Corporate Strategy, because of the uncertainty around the future of pharmacy regulation in Northern Ireland, was further evidence for us to conclude that the PSNI had not met Standard 2 this year.

The PSNI has made progress against Standard 3 this year, underpinned by the publication of its Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Strategy. However, several significant gaps we identified in our last report have not been addressed – notably regarding the PSNI not using data and evidence to identify unfairness in processes and decisions, not using research to inform its work, and not publishing its own EDI data, research and analysis. The PSNI met one out of four outcomes within this Standard; we therefore concluded that the PSNI had not met Standard 3.

For several years, we reported on the need for the PSNI to understand and manage the risks arising from online pharmacy, and last year we concluded that the PSNI had not met Standard 7 because of the lack of progress to publish guidance for registrants on this issue. The PSNI launched a consultation exercise on draft guidance regarding prescription delivery and collection in November 2025, but this is narrow in scope and is not an update on the PSNI’s 2016 standards and guidance on internet pharmacy services. We have also seen little progress in terms of the PSNI’s understanding of the risks around online pharmacy during this review period. We therefore concluded that the PSNI had not met Standard 7.

The PSNI has met four out of five of our fitness to practise (FTP) standards this year. We concluded that it had not met Standard 15 because it was still taking too long to deal with FTP cases. While the PSNI had succeeded in reducing the number of open cases overall, the improvement was largely confined to cases at the earliest part of the FTP process, and the number of open older cases remained high compared to previous years.

In line with our escalation policy, we have written to the Minister of Health for Northern Ireland and the Chair of the Northern Ireland Assembly Committee for Health to make them aware of our concerns. You can download these letters below. We will be closely monitoring the PSNI’s performance in 2025/26.

You can find out more about the PSNI’s review in our full report. Find out more about how we review the regulators.

The judgements we make against each Standard incorporate a range of evidence to form an overall picture of performance. Meeting a Standard means that we are satisfied that a regulator is performing well in that area. It does not mean there is no room for improvement. Similarly, finding that a regulator has met all of the Standards does not mean perfection. Rather, it signifies good performance in the 18 areas we assess.

Our oversight does not stop when we publish our report. It is an ongoing, continuous process and, where we have identified areas for improvement, we pay particular attention to these as we continue to monitor the regulator’s performance.

Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care
Contact: media@professionalstandards.org.uk