Distance Selling Logo

Pre-2021 it was a requirement for UK internet pharmacies to show on their website a "Distance Selling Logo". Due to the UK exiting Europe at the end of 2020 this requirement has been temporarily suspended. We have kept this page, as a legacy and in the event, the logo requirement returns. 

'Please can you provide us with the business model, a step by step process of how the member of the public makes a purchase over the online platform.' - Is there a default business model I can send them to help with this?

A business model is simply a general description of how a business or institution serves or intends to serve customers over time. It is a large picture view of the institution that contains most of the features of business plans but with less detail and specificity. The three primary components of a business plan include:

• Customer value proposition (CVP): The CVP is a description of how a business creates value for customers–by providing solutions to important problems better than competing options. It is the case made for why a customer should choose one business over another.
• Resources and processes: Resources refer to the people, technology, equipment, facilities, location, and other things needed to deliver the CVP, while processes describe operations and management of the business. In pharmacy education, these resources and processes include faculty and staff, administrators, programs, courses, curricula, policies, key performance indicators, and other things associated with academia.
• Profit formula: This formula defines how sufficient revenues are generated by the business to cover the costs of providing the CVP over time.

'Please provide us with a list of the medicines that you will be offering over the online platform.' For this, would it be wise to send them a drug list from the C+D as there is a long list of medicines we will be willing to provide from the GSL and P selection.

This is the creation of an intended online formulary, there are specific medicines which the MHRA considers "high risk" and as such if included in your application may show negatively. The most concerning medicines on a formulary would include:

• Opiates - codeine linctus is a prime example, these are regularly seen as medicines of potential abuse from pharmacies as there are safer, non-addictive alternatives.
• Z drugs - such as zopiclone.
• Benzodiazepines - often linked with suicide attempts.
• Salbutamol - this is a little less clear cut whilst it can be useful to a patient to obtain this medicine online, it may interfere with their local asthma care, i.e. if the patient is receiving 4 salbutamol inhalers a month via your pharmacy, should they not be titrated up to the next asthma step? Such as steroid inhalers or oral treatment?