GPhC Ethics Course: Why Pharmacists Take One After a Concern

Written and reviewed by Dr Shehzad Iqbal, MBBS, MRCS, MRCGP, Postgraduate Certificate in Healthcare Law and Ethics · Updated 6 November 2026

In short

Pharmacists take an ethics CPD course after a concern because, before the GPhC refers a case to its Investigating Committee, its guidance lets the Registrar consider whether you have learnt from the incident and taken remedial action. Our Probity & Ethics GPhC ethics course for pharmacists, Ethics and Ethical Standards for Pharmacists, is a CPD course built on the GPhC’s nine standards for pharmacy professionals: £79 (£50 with Bulk Buy 10), 2 CPD hours, with a dated certificate on completion. With a written reflection, it is evidence of insight and remediation during a GPhC investigation, and the same CPD course can be a planned CPD entry for your revalidation.

A concern about your judgement?

A complaint, an employer investigation or a GPhC letter about consent, a decision you made for a patient, or an interest you did not declare, and you want to show you understand what went wrong.

Building your revalidation record?

You want a planned CPD entry with a dated certificate, and material for a reflective account against one of the nine standards.

When does a pharmacist need a GPhC ethics course?

The GPhC’s fitness to practise FAQs say it investigates concerns that “could be a risk to patient safety or affect the public’s confidence in pharmacy services”, not customer service or contract disputes. An ethics course fits where the concern is about the reasoning behind what you did, for example:

supplying, refusing or changing a medicine without the person’s informed consent, or without explaining the choices open to them;
a decision shaped by a sales target, an incentive or a personal interest you did not declare;
a complaint that you let your own values decide the person’s care.

Which GPhC standards does an ethics concern engage?

The GPhC’s Standards for pharmacy professionals set nine standards for every pharmacist and pharmacy technician. You are “personally accountable for meeting the standards” and “must be able to justify the decisions” you make. Two standards carry an ethics concern:

Standard 1, provide person-centred care: obtain consent, give the person all relevant information in a way they can understand, and do not impose your own values and beliefs on other people.
Standard 5, use professional judgement: make the care of the person your first concern, declare any personal or professional interests and manage them professionally, and manage “any personal or organisational goals, incentives or targets” so that the care reflects the person’s needs.

Name the standard and the point you fell short of at the start of your reflection. All nine standards, with a course against each, are in our guide to GPhC courses for a concern and revalidation.

Where an ethics course counts in the GPhC process

The GPhC reviews a concern against its standards, guidance and the law, and may make initial enquiries before it closes the case or opens an investigation. A case officer may then ask for your response.

At the end, the Registrar applies the threshold criteria in the GPhC’s investigations guidance (updated October 2025). A case should not go to the Investigating Committee unless the evidence suggests, among other things, a risk to safety or “a serious or persistent failure to meet any of the standards”. Paragraph 3.7 lets the Registrar consider whether you have “learnt from the incident” and have “taken remedial action”, for example by making changes to your practice.

The Registrar can then close the case, close it with informal guidance, or refer it to the Investigating Committee. Your written response is where the course and your reflection count, so finish the course before you reply.

What the ethics course for pharmacists covers

Seven sections and 19 lessons, ending in an assessment:

healthcare ethics and the GPhC’s role;
autonomy, beneficence and non-maleficence, justice and confidentiality;
honesty, candour and records; consent and communication;
boundaries and conduct in and outside the pharmacy;
breaches, the action the GPhC can take, and the steps to remediate.

When a different course fits better

If the concern is about honesty in a record, a claim or a declaration, Probity for Healthcare Professionals answers it more directly. If it is about how you behaved towards a patient or a colleague, or how you led your team, Professionalism and the Professional Standards for Pharmacists is built on standards 6 and 9.

Counting the ethics course as GPhC CPD

The GPhC revalidation framework asks for four CPD entries a year, at least two of them planned: learning you decide on “in advance of carrying out the learning activity”. It records how the learning has benefited the people using your services, with an example. The reflective account can be written against standard 1 or 5. The GPhC’s revalidation FAQs advise you to keep recording revalidation during an investigation. How to write the entry is in our guide to GPhC CPD courses.

Please note

This guide is general information, not legal advice. No course decides the outcome of a case. Speak to your defence organisation, indemnity provider or union before you send anything to the GPhC.

Our ethics course for pharmacists, for a concern and for CPD

For pharmacists facing a GPhC concern

Ethics and Ethical Standards for Pharmacists

The GPhC’s standards and the ethical principles behind them, applied to pharmacy practice, ending with how to remediate a breach and write about it. Probity & Ethics is CPD certified and accredited by The CPD Certification Service (provider no. 13197).

£79 (£50 with Bulk Buy 10)
2 CPD hours
Certificate on completion

View Ethics and Ethical Standards for Pharmacists →Module on Insight

Courses that sit beside it

Bulk Buy covers the £79 courses: 3 for £200, 5 for £300, 10 for £500. Not sure what to take? Book a free 15-minute call or see which course do I need.

Guides that help

This guide is part of our Professional Misconduct hub, which brings together every Probity & Ethics guide and course on the subject.

The CPD courses linked from this guide, Ethics and Ethical Standards for Pharmacists, Probity for Healthcare Professionals, Professionalism and Professional Standards for Pharmacists and Module on Insight, are by Probity & Ethics, written by Dr Shehzad Iqbal, CPD certified and accredited by The CPD Certification Service (provider no. 13197) and offered since 2020.

Questions and answers

Why do pharmacists take an ethics course after a GPhC concern?

Because the GPhC’s threshold criteria guidance lets the Registrar consider whether a pharmacist has learnt from the incident and taken remedial action. A course with a written reflection is evidence of both; it does not decide the outcome.

Does the GPhC look at remedial action before referring a case?

Yes. Paragraph 3.7 of the GPhC’s threshold criteria guidance lets the Registrar consider learning and remedial action. The Registrar can then close the case, close it with informal guidance, or refer it to the Investigating Committee.

Which GPhC standards does an ethics course cover?

All nine, with the weight on standard 1, provide person-centred care, and standard 5, use professional judgement: consent, declaring interests and managing incentives or targets.

Can I keep working while the GPhC investigates?

The GPhC’s FAQs say you can keep practising unless it tells you otherwise, and that an investigation is not a decision that your fitness to practise is impaired.

Does the ethics course count for GPhC revalidation?

Yes. It can be one of your four CPD entries for the year, as a planned entry if you chose it in advance. The certificate records the course title, 2 CPD hours and the date.

Sources

This guide is based on the following GPhC pages, read on 5 November 2026.

Why Pharmacists Take a GPhC Ethics Course After a Concern