Pharmacy owners and their teams work hard to support local communities every day, but more than half of pharmacy staff reported that abuse from patients is a serious concern in the 2025 Pharmacy Pressures Survey.

If you face any type of abuse from patients, please don’t feel like you have to tolerate it. The following actions can be considered:

  • Call the police: Please report instances to the police who can provide appropriate support and take action where appropriate.
  • Refuse to dispense the prescription: The pharmacy regulations permit this if a pharmacy owner or their staff (or other people at the premises) are threatened with or subject to violence or other criminal behaviour.
  • Contact your LPC: Speak to your LPC who may be able to assist in handling the situation locally.

To help prevent such behaviour in the first place, Community Pharmacy England has produced posters that highlight the importance of treating pharmacy team members with kindness and respect. We will also keep working to raise awareness of this issue and pushing for other measures to help pharmacy owners and their teams.

Security and personal safety resources

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society also provides guidance on ‘tackling difficult situations in your pharmacy’ see https://www.rpharms.com/recognition/all-our-campaigns/workforce-wellbeing/bekind .Community

The General Pharmaceutical Council has a zero approach to violence and has also reminded employers of their duty of care to keep their staff safe at work and to consider steps to reduce the risk to their staff experiencing any abuse, see https://www.pharmacyregulation.org/about-us/news-and-updates/statement-gphc-ongoing-violent-disorder-and-its-impact-pharmacy-services.

The abuse of pharmacy staff was raised recently at the Conference of LPC Representatives, and we will be seeking to further quantify the extent to which pharmacy teams encounter abuse from patients and the public in our next pre-committee polling, opening next week.

The post Curbing patient abuse appeared first on Community Pharmacy England.