Sector Poll: Tell us about patient abuse and other challenges

Community pharmacy owners are being asked to share their experiences of patient abuse towards them and their teams, and other challenges, as the Community Pharmacy England Committee prepares for its first meeting of 2026.

Pharmacy owners and their teams continue to work hard to support local communities despite mounting pressures, and this is made even more difficult when they face abuse and aggression from frustrated members of the public. More than half of pharmacy staff reported that abuse from patients is a serious concern in the 2025 Pharmacy Pressures Survey – and with further reports now received from LPCs, we want to get an accurate updated picture.

To support pharmacy owners and their teams Community Pharmacy England has issued an article which points to supportive information and resources: Curbing patient abuse.

In early February 2026, Committee Members will meet to discuss the latest update on negotiations as well as other pressing issues. Read more about this in our latest CEO Blog.

To help inform the Committee’s discussions, we are keen to further quantify the extent to which pharmacy teams encounter abuse from patients and the public. The survey also asks about VAT repayments and includes the regular financial pressures tracker.

Please input into the Committee’s discussions via this short poll:

February 2026 Committee Opinion Poll (for independent and non-CCA multiples only)

View a copy of the poll questions

The survey will close at 11.59pm on Thursday 22nd January to allow time for the Committee to review responses before its meeting. Please note, this survey is for community pharmacy owners only – CCA multiple branches do not need to respond, as their head offices will be contacted separately.

As well as being considered during February’s Committee Meeting, your answers will be used to raise awareness of the immense pressures on pharmacies, along with case studies (e.g. those featured in the Staffing and Morale Report coverage), and the findings will also be reported back to the sector.

We hope that as many of you as possible will share your thoughts with us ahead of our upcoming meeting – this is your chance to feed directly into the Committee.

You can see results from recent opinion polls below:

Briefing 027/25: What pharmacy owners told us in November 2025

Briefing 024/25: What pharmacy owners told us in September 2025