Boots UK boss quits

The head of Boots' UK operations is to leave the company as part of a broader management reshuffle at its US parent.

Walgreen Boots Alliance said in a statement that Boots president Simon Roberts would be leaving in July after “deciding to pursue new opportunities”.

Pharmacy chain Boots was in April accused of ripping off the National Health Service by instructing staff to give patients ‘medicine use reviews’ (MURs), even if they don’t need them.

An investigation by the Guardian newspaper revealed that that managers at the high street pharmacy chain told chemists to provide reviews to customers when dispensing so it could claim £28 for each review from the public purse.

The reviews are carried out by a qualified pharmacist, and are supposed to ensure patients have clear and up-to-date advice on the medicines they take, as well as other lifestyle choices.

One pharmacist was reportedly told to carry out an MUR on a patient with dementia, as well as one on himself. He said he also observed his manager enter a review into the store’s system, despite not completing it.

In a bid to prevent such an abuse of the system, NHS rules state each pharmacy can only claim 400 MURs each year, though the investigation uncovered evidence that some Boots staff were being told that was a store target.

A store carrying out the maximum number of reviews will receive £11,200 in a calendar year, which makes the scheme worth a potential £30m to the entire Boots chain.

In other senior management moves Alex Gourlay was promoted to co-chief operating officer and will take overall responsibility for Boots in the UK.

Yves Romestan, a spokesman for Walgreens Boots Alliance, insisted Roberts’ departure was a personal decision taken months ago.

“The decision to leave the company translates his desire to embrace a new professional challenge and spend more time with his family,” the Guardian quoted him as saying.

The UK’s pharmacy watchdog is still considering whether to launch an investigation into Boots. The General Pharmaceutical Council began to call in evidence two days after the Guardian published its investigation and asked to see a copy of a survey by the pharmacy trade union, the Pharmacists’ Defence Association (PDA), cited by the Guardian in its report, the newspaper added .