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Healthcare Ethics Ireland

Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI) · Preliminary Proceedings Committee · Professional Conduct Committee and Health Committee · High Court confirmation

For Pharmacists in Ireland

Remediation courses for Pharmacists facing a Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI) complaint, fitness to practise inquiry or allegation of professional misconduct

Remediation courses for pharmacists registered with the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI) who have been sent a complaint and invited to submit initial observations, are answering the Preliminary Proceedings Committee, or are preparing for an inquiry before the Professional Conduct Committee or the Health Committee.

  • A complaint to the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI) about your conduct, practice or performance
  • A concern or complaint raised with the PSI by a patient, an employer, a colleague or the registrar
  • A letter from the Preliminary Proceedings Committee inviting your initial observations
  • A referral to the Professional Conduct Committee for an inquiry
  • A referral to the Health Committee on the ground of impairment
  • An undertaking, a consent, conditions or a sanction awaiting High Court confirmation
  • A dispensing error, a failure to supply, or a complaint about your manner or attitude
  • Any other ethical concern or allegation of unethical conduct
  • 24 courses
  • 2 CPD hours per course
  • Certificate on completion
  • Written to the Code of Conduct for pharmacists
  • From €70 a course (Bulk Buy of 10)
Our team

At a glance

Who it is for
Pharmacists facing a Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI) complaint, an invitation to submit initial observations, a Preliminary Proceedings Committee decision, an inquiry before the Professional Conduct Committee or the Health Committee, or a decision on sanction
Regulator covered
The Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI) under the Pharmacy Act 2007 — its registrar, its Preliminary Proceedings Committee, its Professional Conduct Committee, its Health Committee and its Council — and confirmation by the High Court
CPD
2 hours per course
Access
Immediate, online, twelve months from purchase
On completion
A dated certificate for your response, your reflection or your remediation plan
Price
From €70 a course (Bulk Buy of 10)

Certificate issued by Healthcare Ethics CoursesRemediation courses for regulatory processes.

Buying several

A remediation portfolio is better with more courses

Courses are €100 each (€70 with Bulk Buy 10). If you are building a remediation plan you may need several. Bulk Buy is 2 or more courses: two courses are €175, three are €250, five are €400 (20 per cent off) and ten are €700 — ten for the price of seven, a saving of €300. The saving is applied in the basket.

The more courses you choose, the less each one costs

CoursesPriceYou savePer course
1€100No saving€100
2€175€25€88
3€250€50€83
5€400€100€80
10€700€300€70

If you are responding to a complaint or a fitness to practise inquiry, you can start with the Core Set — the ethics and professionalism pair written for your profession, insight, reflection, remediation, ensuring no repeat, the fitness to practise process, dealing with a complaint, and rebuilding trust — and add courses for the specific concern raised.

See the Bulk Buy Offer

Choosing your courses

Which courses should you take?

The Core PSI Remediation Set applies to every complaint, whatever the concern. Choose the type of concern named in your letter and you will see the courses that address it directly.

Core PSI Remediation Set

Recommended for every complaint you are currently facing, whatever the concern. These cover insight, reflection, remediation and the risk of repetition — the four things a remediation response has to show before the Preliminary Proceedings Committee, the Professional Conduct Committee or the Health Committee, and the Council of the PSI decide.

Recommended for every complaint · 9 courses Certificate · 2 CPD hours
Ethics and Ethical Standards for Pharmacists 2 CPD hours Add Ethics and Ethical Standards for Pharmacists to basket
Professionalism and Professional Standards for Pharmacists 2 CPD hours Add Professionalism and Professional Standards for Pharmacists to basket
Insight for Fitness to Practise 2 CPD hours Add Insight for Fitness to Practise to basket
Reflection for Fitness to Practise 2 CPD hours Add Reflection for Fitness to Practise to basket
Remediation for Fitness to Practise 2 CPD hours Add Remediation for Fitness to Practise to basket
Ensuring No Repeat of Misconduct or Mistake in Future Practice 2 CPD hours Add Ensuring No Repeat of Misconduct or Mistake in Future Practice to basket
Fitness to Practise for Healthcare Professionals 2 CPD hours Add Fitness to Practise for Healthcare Professionals to basket
Dealing with a Complaint or Investigation Professionally 2 CPD hours Add Dealing with a Complaint or Investigation Professionally to basket
Rebuilding Trust of Patients, Colleagues, the Public and the Regulator 2 CPD hours Add Rebuilding Trust of Patients, Colleagues, the Public and the Regulator to basket

Choose the concern raised

Select the type of concern named in your letter. The Core Set above applies to every complaint whatever the concern.

Ethics & Ethical Conduct

If the complaint concerns ethical judgement or behaviour, an allegation of unethical conduct, or conduct measured against the PSI Code of Conduct for pharmacists.

Primary recommended courses 15 the 9 Core Set courses apply to every complaint — the rest address this concern directly

Further relevant courses 9 related areas that can arise alongside this concern

Professionalism, Conduct & Attitude

If the complaint concerns unprofessional behaviour, your manner or attitude towards patients or colleagues, communication, or how the pharmacy was run.

Primary recommended courses 14 the 9 Core Set courses apply to every complaint — the rest address this concern directly

Further relevant courses 10 related areas that can arise alongside this concern

Probity, Honesty and Financial Integrity

If the complaint concerns dishonesty, falsified or altered records, misleading claims, the handling of money or stock, or a conflict of interest.

Primary recommended courses 12 the 9 Core Set courses apply to every complaint — the rest address this concern directly

Further relevant courses 12 related areas that can arise alongside this concern

Professional Boundaries: Patients & Colleagues

If the complaint concerns professional or ethical boundaries with a patient or a colleague, a dual relationship, sexual misconduct, or contact outside the pharmacy.

Primary recommended courses 13 the 9 Core Set courses apply to every complaint — the rest address this concern directly

Further relevant courses 11 related areas that can arise alongside this concern

Clinical Care, Prescribing and Records

If the complaint concerns the care itself: a dispensing error, a failure to supply, counselling or prescribing, records, or your competence.

Primary recommended courses 14 the 9 Core Set courses apply to every complaint — the rest address this concern directly

Further relevant courses 10 related areas that can arise alongside this concern

Complaint, Investigation and Inquiry

If you are dealing with a PSI complaint, the Preliminary Proceedings Committee, an inquiry before the Professional Conduct Committee or the Health Committee, or a sanction awaiting High Court confirmation.

Primary recommended courses 9 the 9 Core Set courses apply to every complaint — the rest address this concern directly

Further relevant courses 15 related areas that can arise alongside this concern

The full library

All 24 courses for pharmacists

Every course is €100 (€70 with Bulk Buy 10), carries 2 CPD hours, and issues a dated certificate on completion. Access is immediate and runs for twelve months from purchase. Each appears under at least one concern above. Bulk Buy is 2 or more courses, from €175 for two to €700 for ten, on the Bulk Buy page.

€100 (€70 with Bulk Buy 10)2 CPD hours

Insight for Fitness to Practise

Insight matters at every stage, whatever the allegation. Helps you understand what the PSI means by the word, shows you how to demonstrate insight rather than assert it, and supports you in putting it in writing before any committee decides anything.

PSI code Add to basket

€100 (€70 with Bulk Buy 10)2 CPD hours

Reflection for Fitness to Practise

Helps you write a reflection that can be read closely by the PSI or an inquiry committee, analysing what happened rather than describing it. Takes you through structured models and supports you through the feelings that get in the way of honest writing.

PSI code Add to basket

€100 (€70 with Bulk Buy 10)2 CPD hours

Remediation for Fitness to Practise

Supports you in building a remediation plan around the concerns actually raised, rather than collecting certificates. Shows you how to document what you have changed, and how to avoid the mistakes that make remediation read as compliance rather than change.

PSI code Add to basket

€100 (€70 with Bulk Buy 10)2 CPD hours

Fitness to Practise for Healthcare Professionals

Walks you through the process you are in: what a complaint to the PSI means, what happens at each stage from the first letter to an inquiry and the High Court, and what conditions, suspension or cancellation would involve. A sensible first course if the letter you received is the first you have heard of any of this.

PSI code Add to basket

€100 (€70 with Bulk Buy 10)2 CPD hours

Dealing with a Complaint or Investigation Professionally

Takes you through answering a complaint: what the PSI and its committees ask of you, in what order, and what is asked of you at each stage. Helps you avoid the defensive responses that make matters worse, and manage the strain while you wait.

PSI code Add to basket

€100 (€70 with Bulk Buy 10)2 CPD hours

Rebuilding Trust of Patients, Colleagues, the Public and the Regulator

For matters where trust has broken down with patients, with colleagues, or with the regulator itself. Covers apology and open disclosure under the Patient Safety (Notifiable Incidents and Open Disclosure) Act 2023, and supports you in demonstrating that trustworthiness has been restored rather than promising it.

PSI code Add to basket

€100 (€70 with Bulk Buy 10)2 CPD hours

Ethics and Ethical Standards for Pharmacists

Helps you understand what the Code of Conduct for pharmacists expects of you where the concern is about your judgement, your honesty, or your conduct towards patients. Supports you in handling it openly and writing the reflection the PSI or an inquiry committee will read.

PSI code Add to basket

€100 (€70 with Bulk Buy 10)2 CPD hours

Professionalism and Professional Standards for Pharmacists

Helps you see where conduct, attitude or behaviour towards patients and colleagues fell short of the Code of Conduct for pharmacists, and why that matters to the PSI. Supports you in building the insight and reflection that go into a remediation response.

PSI code Add to basket

€100 (€70 with Bulk Buy 10)2 CPD hours

Medical Ethics Course

A broader course for matters where several concerns have been raised at once, or where the allegations are serious. Helps you work through difficult decisions in clinical practice and supports you in rebuilding trust with the PSI.

PSI code Add to basket

€100 (€70 with Bulk Buy 10)2 CPD hours

Professional Ethics Course

For matters where your honesty, integrity or accountability in day-to-day practice has been questioned. Helps you see how these lapses happen and what they mean for patients and colleagues, and supports you in responding credibly while a complaint is open.

PSI code Add to basket

€100 (€70 with Bulk Buy 10)2 CPD hours

Duty of Candour for Healthcare Professionals

Being open after something goes wrong is a duty, not a courtesy, and since 26 September 2024 open disclosure of a notifiable incident is required by law in Ireland. Helps you apologise properly, hold the conversation itself, and record it, and explains why a failure to disclose can become a separate allegation from the error that prompted it.

PSI code Add to basket

€100 (€70 with Bulk Buy 10)2 CPD hours

Confidentiality in Healthcare Practice

A conversation overheard, records accessed, or something shared that should not have been. Helps you understand when disclosure is lawful and when it is required, covers telehealth and digital records, and supports you in remediating a breach.

PSI code Add to basket

€100 (€70 with Bulk Buy 10)2 CPD hours

Effective Communication for Healthcare Professionals

For a complaint about how you spoke to a patient, a family or a colleague, or about what was not said. Helps you look again at the conversation, and supports you in showing the PSI what you would do differently.

PSI code Add to basket

€100 (€70 with Bulk Buy 10)2 CPD hours

Documentation for Healthcare Professionals

A record amended after a complaint is made turns a clinical matter into one of honesty. Reminds you what accurate, timely notes look like, how an error in a record should be corrected, and how records are read at an inquiry.

PSI code Add to basket

€100 (€70 with Bulk Buy 10)2 CPD hours

Ensuring Teamwork and Collaboration

For concerns that involve colleagues rather than patients: conflict, handover, delegation, or how you behave within a team. Helps you understand what went wrong and supports you in evidencing changed working relationships to the PSI.

PSI code Add to basket

€100 (€70 with Bulk Buy 10)2 CPD hours

Ensuring Clinical Competence and Patient Safety

For a concern about your clinical judgement, your competence or patient safety, knowledge or performance. Helps you work within the limits of your competence, recognise the early signs of declining performance, and show the PSI that competence has been restored.

PSI code Add to basket

€100 (€70 with Bulk Buy 10)2 CPD hours

Probity and Honesty for Healthcare Professionals

If your letter questions your honesty, begin here. Helps you understand what honesty and integrity mean in records, declarations, certificates and fees, and supports you in rebuilding trust through a documented remediation plan.

PSI code Add to basket

€100 (€70 with Bulk Buy 10)2 CPD hours

Financial Integrity for Healthcare Professionals

For matters involving money: fees, billing, claims, or an interest you did not declare. Helps you understand how these matters arise and what they mean for your registration, and supports you in responding to a complaint or an audit.

PSI code Add to basket

€100 (€70 with Bulk Buy 10)2 CPD hours

Professional Boundaries Course

A complaint about a boundary with a patient or a colleague is serious wherever it is heard. Helps you see where the boundary is, how they are crossed gradually and without intent, and supports you in putting credible remediation together.

PSI code Add to basket

€100 (€70 with Bulk Buy 10)2 CPD hours

Ethical Boundaries with Patients and Colleagues

For a dual relationship, a relationship that became too close, contact outside work, or gifts, with a patient or a colleague. Reminds you of the warning signs and the power imbalance that makes these matters serious, and helps you show insight and accountability afterwards.

PSI code Add to basket

Before anything else

Who decides — the Preliminary Proceedings Committee, the Professional Conduct Committee or the Council of the PSI?

The Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI), the pharmacy regulator, handles complaints about pharmacists under the Pharmacy Act 2007. It separates a concern, which covers “the behaviour, conduct, practice or health of a pharmacist” and is dealt with outside the statutory process, from a statutory complaint, reserved for issues of a serious nature. A statutory complaint goes to the Preliminary Proceedings Committee, then, if referred, to an inquiry before the Professional Conduct Committee or the Health Committee; the Council of the PSI decides sanction and the High Court confirms it.

The committee named in your letter tells you the stage. Before you write anything back, speak to your indemnifier, your union or professional body, or a solicitor.

The complaint arrives at the PSI

Under section 35 of the Pharmacy Act 2007 a complaint may be made in writing by or on behalf of any person, or by the registrar. The PSI sends the complaint to you, and you are “invited to submit initial observations”. No response deadline is published, and what you put in writing first shapes what follows. Where the risk is serious and immediate, the Council of the PSI can apply to the High Court for your suspension meanwhile: a protective step, not a finding.

The Preliminary Proceedings Committee

The PPC is the first stage, and the investigation of your complaint happens here. It may ask for more information, decide that no further action is needed, refer the complaint to a committee of inquiry, or refer it to mediation. Its Annual Report 2024 records 50 complaints considered, down from 77 in 2023, with 88 respondents: 62 had no further action, 17 were referred to the Professional Conduct Committee and 1 to the Health Committee. Your initial observations are the first place to show insight and remediation.

Undertakings and consents

Section 46 of the Pharmacy Act 2007 provides for undertakings and consents, and a failure to comply with either is itself a ground of complaint under section 35. Since 13 February 2021, when the Regulated Professions (Health and Social Care) (Amendment) Act 2020 amended sections 48 to 50, where undertakings or consents are given the measures imposed are those contained in the committee’s report (section 48(3)). An undertaking must then be evidenced, and remediation already under way is what makes one credible.

The inquiry: the Professional Conduct Committee or the Health Committee

The PSI’s committees of inquiry are the Professional Conduct Committee and the Health Committee. The PSI says the Professional Conduct Committee deals with complaints about professional misconduct, and that the Health Committee deals with complaints about impairment of a pharmacist’s ability to practise. The PSI says an inquiry may be held in public. The committee hears the evidence and reports its findings against the grounds in section 35.

The Council’s sanction and the High Court

Under section 48(1) of the Pharmacy Act 2007 the sanctions are admonishment or censure, conditions attached to your registration, suspension, cancellation, and a prohibition on applying for restoration. There is no fine. Under section 50, as amended on 13 February 2021, a heavier sanction takes effect only once the High Court confirms it; an admonishment or censure takes effect on confirmation, or once the 30-day period in section 51(2) expires. Sanction is where mitigation is argued, and dated remediation that started while the complaint was open is what mitigation is built from.

What does not change

Whichever committee your letter names, a response needs the same four things, set out in full below: insight, reflection, remediation and why it is unlikely to happen again. The Core Set above is built around them, at every stage.

In short

What are Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI) remediation courses for pharmacists?

Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI) remediation courses are self-paced online courses taken by a pharmacist registered in Ireland to evidence insight, reflection and remediation in response to a PSI complaint, a Preliminary Proceedings Committee referral, an inquiry before the Professional Conduct Committee or the Health Committee, or a sanction under consideration by the Council. They are not a PSI product. What they give you is independent, dated evidence that you identified the concern and acted on it, and when.

Every course is €100 (€70 with Bulk Buy 10), carries 2 CPD hours, is self-paced with immediate access, and issues a dated certificate from Healthcare Ethics Courses on completion recording the course title, the hours and the date. Bulk Buy is 2 or more courses: ten are €700, saving up to €300. The courses are written to the PSI Code of Conduct for pharmacists (2019), with its seven principles — Put the Patient First, Act Professionally, Communicate Effectively, Work with Others, Show Leadership, Maintain Competence, and Be Open and Honest — and to the Pharmacy Act 2007. A Core Set applies to any complaint whatever the concern; the rest are grouped by the type of concern raised.

No course decides a complaint, and no provider can promise an outcome. The PPC’s Annual Report 2024 records that 40% of complaints were resolved within six months.

Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI) complaints

Supporting pharmacists through a Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI) complaint or fitness to practise inquiry

Courses
24, written for pharmacists in Ireland
Price
€100 (€70 with Bulk Buy 10) per course · Bulk Buy: 2 courses €175, 3 €250, 5 €400, 10 €700 (ten for the price of seven)
CPD per course
2 hours
Core Set
9 courses, 18 CPD hours
Written to
The Code of Conduct for pharmacists (2019): Professional Principles, Standards and Ethics for Pharmacists, published by the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI)
Certificate
Issued by Healthcare Ethics Courses on completion
Bodies covered
The Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI), its registrar and its Council, the Preliminary Proceedings Committee, the Professional Conduct Committee, the Health Committee and the High Court
Format
Online, self-paced, immediate access · face-to-face courses on set dates
Access
Twelve months from purchase, with unlimited revisiting

A complaint to the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI) can concern your behaviour, a failure to supply, a dispensing error, how the pharmacy was run or your health, and can come from a patient, an employer, a colleague or the registrar. The PPC’s Annual Report 2024 lists behaviour (manner and attitude) and failure to supply at 10 complaints each, practice and management at 6, and dispensing errors by dose (5), medication (4) and other (4). Demonstrating active, documented remediation is the part of the process still within your control.

The courses are written for pharmacists responding to a complaint under the Pharmacy Act 2007, referred to the Professional Conduct Committee or the Health Committee, or awaiting the Council’s decision on sanction. The certificate is not the evidence on its own: attached to your written reflection, it belongs in your initial observations to the PPC, a submission to a committee of inquiry, evidence of compliance with an undertaking, or mitigation before the Council. Representation is a separate question: speak to your indemnifier, your union or professional body, or a solicitor before you send any of it.

Why it matters

What a response to the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI) needs to show

The Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI) publishes no sanctions guidance that we can point you to. What follows is our own structure for a response at any stage: insight, reflection, remediation and why it is unlikely to happen again.

Four things a response has to show

That you understand what went wrong. That you accept responsibility for your part in it. That you recognise the effect it had on the patient, on colleagues, and on public confidence in pharmacy. And that you can show change as a result. We build a response around all four, in that order, and the Core Set above covers them.

Disclosure belongs beside the dispensing facts

The Code’s principle Be Open and Honest, and the Patient Safety (Notifiable Incidents and Open Disclosure) Act 2023, commenced on 26 September 2024, set the frame: whether you told the patient, whether you escalated at the time, and what has changed since. A response that defends the dispensing decision but never reaches those three things is incomplete.

Records are judged twice

Once as practice and once as evidence. Dispensing records and patient records are read closely. Amending a record after you know a complaint exists turns a dispensing matter into one of honesty, which is a far harder allegation to answer. Never alter an entry once a complaint exists.

Starting early costs nothing

Undertaking remediation is not an admission of anything. It is equally useful before the PPC, a committee of inquiry, or the Council at the point of sanction. Enrol and start the same day.

Evidence somebody else can verify

Your own account of your own improvement is the weakest evidence available. A dated certificate from an external provider, attached to your written reflection, is not. Timing matters too: remediation that starts while the complaint is open is easier to evidence than material put together just before a decision.

Written to the PSI Code of Conduct

Aligned with the Code of Conduct for pharmacists (2019) and its seven principles, and with the Pharmacy Act 2007: its grounds of complaint in section 35, its undertakings and consents in section 46, and its sanctions in section 48, as applied by the Preliminary Proceedings Committee, the Professional Conduct Committee and the Health Committee.

Why these courses

Why a certificated course helps in a response to the PSI

A response has to show what you understand and what has changed. These are the six things a course can contribute to that, and the limits of each.

Evidence somebody else can verify

Your own account of your own improvement is the weakest evidence available. A dated certificate issued by an external provider is not your account: it is a record that exists independently of you, showing what you studied and when you did it.

Immediate access, when timing is the point

Enrol and start the same day. There is nothing to schedule and no cohort to wait for, which matters when you are asked to show prompt action to the PSI, to your indemnifier, or to an employer running its own process alongside the complaint.

Written to the Code of Conduct for pharmacists

A complaint is measured against the PSI Code of Conduct for pharmacists (2019), not against general professional-development material. Each course is written to the Code of Conduct for pharmacists and to the stages of a complaint to the PSI, in the words the PSI itself uses for the process.

Grouped by the concern actually raised

Read the concern in your letter, choose the matching type above, and the page shows the Core Set alongside the courses that address that concern directly. Study that answers the concern reads very differently from a list of everything available.

The certificate is one part

A certificate evidences completion. A certificate together with your own written reflection — what you understood, what you accept, what changed — evidences insight. The courses are built so that the reflection has something specific to attach to.

The kind of study advisers ask for

Your indemnifier, your union or professional body, or a solicitor can advise pharmacists facing a complaint on what evidence a response needs, and structured, documented study with a dated certificate is evidence that can be checked. That does not mean any of them, or the PSI, names a particular course, and we do not claim it.

Who wrote these courses

Author and course facilitator

Dr Shehzad Iqbal, founder and course facilitator at Healthcare Ethics Ireland

Dr Shehzad Iqbal

Founder and course facilitator, Healthcare Ethics Ireland

Every course is written and facilitated by Dr Iqbal, who combines clinical practice with a formal postgraduate qualification in healthcare law and ethics. A remediation course has to speak to the clinical reality of how concerns arise and to the regulatory standards against which they are afterwards judged.

He founded Probity & Ethics in the United Kingdom in 2020 and Healthcare Ethics Courses, which issues the certificates, in 2025. More about us.

MBBS · MRCS · MRCGP · Postgraduate Certificate in Healthcare Law and Ethics, University of Dundee

Written and reviewed by Dr Shehzad Iqbal. Last reviewed .

Key terms

What insight, reflection and remediation mean in a response to the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI)

Insight, reflection and remediation are the three parts a remediation response is built from, and they are not interchangeable. The Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI) measures a complaint against the Code of Conduct for pharmacists (2019); its glossary defines professional misconduct as “Behaviour that goes against the Code of Conduct for registered pharmacists”. So the starting point is showing which principle of the Code is engaged, and why.

Insight is understanding what went wrong, why it happened, and the effect it had on the patient, on colleagues and on public confidence in pharmacy. Reflection is that understanding set down honestly in your own words, including what you would do differently and what you have already changed. Remediation is the concrete steps taken so that the same thing does not happen again, together with evidence that they happened. Insight without remediation is an account; remediation without insight is a certificate.

Insight belongs first in your initial observations to the Preliminary Proceedings Committee, where in 2024 62 of 88 respondents had no further action. Before the Professional Conduct Committee or the Health Committee, and when the Council considers sanction under section 48, reflection and dated remediation are what mitigation is built from. The principle in the Code that bears on all three is Be Open and Honest. These descriptions are our own, not quotations from the PSI.

The words in the letter

Statutory complaint and concern
The Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI) separates the two. A concern about the behaviour, conduct, practice or health of a pharmacist is dealt with outside the statutory process; a statutory complaint, reserved for issues of a serious nature, is made in writing under section 35 of the Pharmacy Act 2007. Either is the start of a process, not a finding.
Preliminary Proceedings Committee (PPC)
The PSI committee that considers a statutory complaint first, after your initial observations. It may ask for more information, take no further action, refer the complaint to a committee of inquiry, or refer it to mediation.
Professional Conduct Committee
One of the PSI’s two committees of inquiry, which the PSI says deals with complaints about professional misconduct. A Professional Conduct Committee inquiry hears the evidence on the allegation and may be held in public; the Council then decides sanction.
Health Committee and impairment
The PSI’s other committee of inquiry. The PSI says the Health Committee deals with complaints about impairment of a pharmacist’s ability to practise. Impairment is the PSI’s own ground under section 35 of the Pharmacy Act 2007: a physical or mental ailment, emotional disturbance, or alcohol or drug addiction. A health route rather than a conduct one.
Professional misconduct
The first ground of complaint in section 35 of the Pharmacy Act 2007. The PSI’s glossary defines it as behaviour that goes against the Code of Conduct for registered pharmacists, so a response is measured, principle by principle, against the Code.
Poor professional performance
The second ground of complaint in section 35: in the PSI’s glossary, a failure to meet the standards of competence reasonably expected of a registered pharmacist. The answer to it is evidence that competence has been restored, not a defence of the single event.
Undertakings and consents
Commitments given under section 46 of the Pharmacy Act 2007; the measures imposed are those in the committee’s report (section 48(3)). A failure to comply is itself a ground of complaint.
Sanctions and High Court confirmation
Under section 48(1) the Council of the PSI may impose admonishment or censure, conditions, suspension, cancellation, or a prohibition on applying for restoration. Under section 50 the High Court confirms the sanction before it takes effect.

These descriptions summarise how the terms are used by the PSI and in the Pharmacy Act 2007, with short quotations from the published pages and guidance listed under Sources below. They are not legal advice. Your indemnifier, your union or professional body, or a solicitor should advise on your own case.

Questions pharmacists ask us

Frequently asked questions

Which courses should I take for a PSI complaint?

Begin with the Core Set above: Ethics and Ethical Standards for Pharmacists and Professionalism and Professional Standards for Pharmacists, both written to the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI) Code of Conduct, with the courses on insight, reflection and remediation. Then add the courses matching the concern named in your letter, using the selector above. Speak to your indemnifier, your union or professional body, or a solicitor before you respond. Each course is €100 (€70 with Bulk Buy 10).

Who decides: the Preliminary Proceedings Committee, the Professional Conduct Committee or the Council?

Each decides a different stage of a Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI) complaint under the Pharmacy Act 2007. The Preliminary Proceedings Committee decides whether to refer the complaint to an inquiry. The Professional Conduct Committee hears allegations of professional misconduct, and the Health Committee complaints about impairment. The Council of the PSI decides sanction and the High Court confirms it. The process cards above set out each stage.

Can the PSI suspend me while the complaint is still open?

Yes, in limited circumstances. The Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI) says that where there is “a serious and immediate risk” its Council can apply to the High Court for a pharmacist’s suspension while the complaint is dealt with. That is a protective step, not a finding against you, and separate from a sanction under section 48 of the Pharmacy Act 2007. Contact your indemnifier, your union or professional body, or a solicitor the same day.

Do I get a certificate, and does it count as CPD?

Yes. Healthcare Ethics Courses issues a dated certificate for every course, recording 2 CPD hours, the course title and the date of completion. The courses are written to the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI) Code of Conduct, but the PSI has no part in them. CPD for pharmacists is mandatory under the Pharmacy Act 2007 and is recorded in the Irish Institute of Pharmacy’s online ePortfolio, with annual ePortfolio Review from January 2027. Record the course and your reflection there.

How long do I have access, and can I get a certificate with a later date?

Access runs for twelve months from purchase. You start immediately, work at your own pace, and can return to the material after completing it for the rest of that period. The certificate records the date you completed the course, and that date does not change; revisiting the material does not produce a newly dated one. If the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI), a committee or an employer asks for recent evidence, you buy the course again.

Will completing courses resolve my PSI complaint?

No. No course, from us or from anyone else, determines the outcome of a Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI) complaint, a Preliminary Proceedings Committee decision, an inquiry before the Professional Conduct Committee or the Health Committee, or the Council’s decision on sanction. What a course can do is help you build the insight and reflection your response needs, with a dated certificate to evidence it.

How do I evidence insight and remediation to the PSI?

Show the four things set out above, in your own written reflection, and attach dated evidence of the remediation, such as a certificate. Write each part to the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI) Code of Conduct, naming the principle engaged and why. Then say what you have changed in your practice since, and why it is unlikely to happen again.

The PSI has asked for a course, or I have given an undertaking: do these qualify?

That depends on the wording, which is a question for the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI) or your adviser. Undertakings and consents are given under section 46 of the Pharmacy Act 2007, and a failure to comply with either is itself a ground of complaint. Our Ethics, Professionalism, Professional Boundaries and Ethical Boundaries courses are written for remediation, and each issues a dated certificate. Read the wording of your undertaking with your adviser before you enrol.

Can I take a course if I am suspended or have conditions on my registration?

Yes. There is no registration check and no requirement to hold current registration with the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI). The courses are taken by pharmacists who are suspended, who have conditions attached to their registration, who have given an undertaking, or who are preparing an application for restoration, as well as by those with a live complaint. If conditions or an undertaking require something specific, check the wording with your adviser before choosing.

The complaint is about professional boundaries: what applies?

The Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI) Code of Conduct for pharmacists (2019), whose principles include Put the Patient First, Act Professionally and Be Open and Honest. A sexual or emotional relationship with a patient or a colleague, a dual relationship, gifts, contact outside the pharmacy or conduct online are judged against those principles, and before the Professional Conduct Committee as professional misconduct. Take advice before responding, and before contacting anyone connected with the complaint, whether a patient or a colleague.

The complaint is about my health: is impairment a disciplinary matter?

Not in the way a conduct complaint is. Impairment is a separate ground of complaint under section 35 of the Pharmacy Act 2007, covering a physical or mental ailment, emotional disturbance, or alcohol or drug addiction, and the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI) says its Health Committee deals with complaints about impairment rather than the Professional Conduct Committee. Your response can still show how the condition affected your practice and what you have put in place.

I qualified outside Ireland: are these courses relevant to me?

Yes. Pharmacists who qualified outside Ireland may be working through an unfamiliar regulatory system at the same time as responding to a complaint, and the vocabulary differs: registration with the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI) rather than a licence; a statutory complaint and a concern; a Preliminary Proceedings Committee; a Professional Conduct Committee and a Health Committee rather than one disciplinary panel; undertakings and consents; and High Court confirmation of a sanction. The courses explain the process in Irish terms.

Is what I do confidential?

Yes. Courses are taken privately online at your own pace. We never share participant details with the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI), its committees, an employer, a union or an indemnifier unless you choose to do so yourself. Nobody is told you are enrolled. You can complete a course and write your reflection before deciding whether to include either in your observations to the PPC, a submission to a committee of inquiry, or mitigation before the Council.

Official guidance

Read the PSI’s own documents

If you are facing a complaint, read the source material directly as well as anything written about it.

The code

Code of Conduct for pharmacists (2019)

Professional Principles, Standards and Ethics for Pharmacists: the seven principles against which the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI) measures professional misconduct.

psi.ie ↗ Complaints

Complaints and concerns

The PSI’s own account of the two routes, a concern and a statutory complaint, and of what happens after a complaint is made.

psi.ie ↗ Committees

The disciplinary committees

The Preliminary Proceedings Committee, the Professional Conduct Committee and the Health Committee in the PSI’s own words, including the Health Committee’s ground of impairment.

psi.ie ↗ The Act

Pharmacy Act 2007, section 48: sanctions

The revised Act as amended on 13 February 2021: admonishment or censure, conditions, suspension, cancellation and a prohibition on applying for restoration.

revisedacts.lawreform.ie ↗

Other professions

Courses for the other Irish regulators

We publish equivalent remediation courses, written to each regulator’s own code, for every healthcare professional in Ireland.

Start today, finish at your own pace

Our courses support pharmacists through Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI) complaints, Preliminary Proceedings Committee decisions, undertakings and consents, inquiries before the Professional Conduct Committee or the Health Committee, and the Council’s decision on sanction. Immediate access, a dated certificate on completion, and €100 (€70 with Bulk Buy 10) per course — or less as a Bulk Buy of 2 or more, saving up to €300.

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Sources

Every source cited on this page

Each fact above comes from one of these pages, Acts and documents.

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