Regulatory information
Who we are, who regulates us, and how to verify it.
The single page where the GPhC inspector, the MHRA, an external auditor, or a patient can find every regulatory fact about Switch Pharmacy in one place.
Who we are
Switch Pharmacy is the trading name of Acura Pharma Ltd, a private limited company incorporated in England and Wales. Where this site or any of our policies refer to “Switch”, “Switch Pharmacy”, “we”, “us” or “our”, this is Acura Pharma Ltd trading as Switch Pharmacy.
- Legal name
- Acura Pharma Ltd
- Trading as
- Switch Pharmacy
- Company number
- 17237665 (England & Wales)
- Registered office
- 1 Stadium Place, Leicester, LE4 0JS, United Kingdom
- VAT
- Not VAT-registered (pre-launch). Will be published here once registered.
- ICO data-protection registration
- Pending. Will be published with reference number on this page when granted.
- Domain
- switchpharmacy.co.uk
- Contact
- hello@switchpharmacy.co.uk · 0116 296 9900
Pharmacy regulator
Switch Pharmacy is regulated by the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC), the statutory regulator for pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and registered pharmacies in Great Britain.
Registration status: registered. Our pharmacy premises and pharmacy are registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council under number 9013298. This can be verified on the GPhC register of pharmacies. All prescription-only medicines, pharmacy medicines and general sale list medicines supplied from this website are dispensed by a UK-registered pharmacy operating under the Standards for registered pharmacies.
- Regulator
- General Pharmaceutical Council
- Regulator address
- 25 Canada Square, London E14 5LQ
- Regulator telephone
- 020 3713 8000
- Regulator website
- pharmacyregulation.org
- Pharmacy GPhC number
- 9013298 (verify on the GPhC register)
- GPhC standards
- We are required to meet the GPhC’s Standards for registered pharmacies (2018) and the GPhC’s Guidance for registered pharmacies providing pharmacy services at a distance, including on the internet.
Superintendent pharmacist
Under section 71 of the Medicines Act 1968 every registered pharmacy that is a body corporate must have a superintendent pharmacist who has responsibility for the management of the pharmacy business so far as it concerns the keeping, preparing, dispensing and sale of medicines.
- Superintendent Pharmacist
- Omar Farook Dagia
- GPhC registration number
- 2221199
- Verify on register
- pharmacyregulation.org/registers/pharmacist/2221199
- Responsibility
- Sets the clinical governance framework, signs off standard operating procedures, oversees responsible pharmacist arrangements, and is accountable to the GPhC for the pharmacy’s compliance with the Standards for registered pharmacies.
- Day-to-day contact
- hello@switchpharmacy.co.uk
Prescribing model
Switch operates a named-prescriber, individualised clinical decision-making model. We do not operate a model in which a patient completes a questionnaire and a medicine is dispatched automatically. Every request for a prescription-only medicine is reviewed individually by a UK-registered independent prescriber, who decides whether to prescribe on the clinical merits of the consultation, and who is identified by name to the patient.
What this means in practice
- A consultation does not constitute or imply a prescription. Completing a consultation does not guarantee that a medicine will be supplied.
- The prescriber may decline to prescribe, may request further information, may ask to contact the patient’s GP, may suggest a different medicine, or may decline and signpost to another service.
- The decision and the prescriber’s name are recorded against the patient’s record and disclosed to the patient.
- Prescribers operate within the GPhC’s expectations for prescribing of medicines associated with a higher risk of harm or misuse — including treatments for erectile dysfunction, hair loss, and weight loss.
GP communication
Where it is clinically appropriate, and with the patient’s consent, the prescriber will write to the patient’s NHS GP to inform them of the consultation and any medicine supplied. The consultation flow collects GP surgery details at the point of order. Patients may decline to share their GP details; the prescriber may, in turn, decline to prescribe where they consider GP awareness essential to safe care.
Registered premises
All dispensing is carried out from a single registered pharmacy premises in England. Medicines are not stored, picked or shipped from any other site. Pharmacy registration of the premises is currently under GPhC inspection.
- Premises address
- 1 Stadium Place, Leicester, LE4 0JS, United Kingdom
- Country of dispensing
- England (Great Britain)
- Hours
- Monday to Friday, 9:00 to 18:00. Closed bank holidays.
- Responsible Pharmacist
- A Responsible Pharmacist is appointed and displayed in the dispensary every day the pharmacy is open, as required by the Medicines (Pharmacies) (Responsible Pharmacist) Regulations 2008.
Medicines & the MHRA
All medicines supplied by Switch are licensed for use in the United Kingdom by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), or are prescribed unlicensed (“special”) only where there is a clinical need and a UK-registered prescriber takes responsibility for that use.
EU common (distance selling) logo
The EU common logo — sometimes called the “distance selling logo” — remains a legal requirement only for online medicine sellers based in Northern Ireland. The MHRA is no longer processing new applications from sellers based in Great Britain. Switch is registered in England (Great Britain), so the MHRA distance selling logo does not apply to this site. Patients in Great Britain can instead verify Switch on the GPhC register once our pharmacy registration is granted.
GPhC voluntary internet pharmacy logo
Once our GPhC pharmacy registration is granted, we will apply for the GPhC’s voluntary internet pharmacy logo. When awarded, the logo will appear in the footer of every page from which medicines are offered, and will link to the GPhC’s verification entry for Switch Pharmacy.
Falsified medicines
If you suspect that a medicine supplied by Switch is counterfeit or falsified, contact us immediately on hello@switchpharmacy.co.uk or 0116 296 9900 and report it to the MHRA Yellow Card scheme: yellowcard.mhra.gov.uk. Do not take the medicine.
Professional indemnity
The superintendent pharmacist, all responsible pharmacists, and all independent prescribers operating through Switch hold professional indemnity insurance to a level appropriate to their scope of practice. This is a condition both of GPhC registration and of working with Switch. Evidence of cover is held on file and is available to the GPhC inspector on request.
What we do not do
To be explicit about the scope of our service and to reduce risk of misuse:
- We do not provide emergency or urgent care. In a medical emergency call 999. For urgent advice call NHS 111.
- We do not prescribe controlled drugs (Schedule 2–5 of the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001) online.
- We do not prescribe opioids, gabapentinoids, benzodiazepines, “z”-drugs, or other medicines associated with dependence online.
- We do not supply medicines to anyone under 18.
- We do not supply unlicensed slimming or aesthetic medicines for cosmetic use.
- We do not sell medicines for use outside the United Kingdom, save in the limited cases permitted by the GPhC and the supply country’s law.
- We do not act on behalf of the NHS. Switch is a private pharmacy service.
How to verify us
The inspector, an external auditor, a patient, or a member of the public can verify Switch independently using any of the routes below.
- Companies House — search company number 17237665 at find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk.
- GPhC register — once registered, search Switch Pharmacy at pharmacyregulation.org/registers. The superintendent pharmacist (Omar Farook Dagia, 2221199) is already verifiable.
- NHS gov.uk “check an online pharmacy” — nhs.uk/nhs-services/pharmacies.
Contact for regulators & auditors
If you are a GPhC inspector, MHRA inspector, ICO investigator, NHS England official, or an external auditor acting for Switch, please write in the first instance to:
Omar Farook Dagia, Superintendent Pharmacist
Acura Pharma Ltd, 1 Stadium Place, Leicester LE4 0JS
hello@switchpharmacy.co.uk · 0116 296 9900
We will respond within one working day to acknowledge, and provide a substantive response within five working days or the period required by the relevant statutory framework, whichever is shorter.