It's hard remember if Boots is now Boots or Walgreens Boots Alliance after a succession of buyouts and mergers, which has left this pharmacy business resembling a Ship of Theseus. It's also facing repeated allegations of misuse of NHS funds and mistreating its employees.
Boots is being accused of misusing NHS funds, by carrying out unnecessary medicines use reviews in its pharmacies. The Guardian newspaper had conducted a covert investigation, and has liasoned with the Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) who in turn revealed the results of a survey which supports this:
The Guardian has also seen a recent unpublished survey by the trade
union, the Pharmacists’ Defence Association (PDA), to which more than
600 Boots chemists – more than one in 10 of the entire company’s
pharmacists – responded. Asked "how often do you believe financial
cutbacks imposed by your main employer have directly impacted upon
patient safety", over 75% of Boots chemists said that was true “around
half” or more of the time. A number volunteered complaints about being "pressurised into conducting MURs whether or not patients are eligible
to receive the service" - The Guardian
Now, the GPhC is moving toward a formal investigation, and have approached the Guardian and PDA for more evidence. This also raises questions on why the regulator had repeatedly ignored problems at this big company, always citing workplace disputes and staffing levels as outside of their jurisdiction. Strong evidence of NHS funds being misused and increasing public awareness was probably too much, leaving the GPhC no choice but to act.
Below are links to the most prominent articles regarding this.
Daily Mail Boots accused of boosting its profits by milking NHS for cash: Pharmacists 'told to carry out unnecessary medicine reviews'
Guardian Boots could face regulator's investigation after Guardian report
The Sun Boots accused of abusing NHS cash by carrying out unnecessary health checks in attempt to pocket £30million
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