The GPhC standards for registered pharmacies do not mention temperature, but inspectors still check your fridge records under standard 4.3, and the detail comes from UKHSA, SPS and RPS guidance. A pharmacy has to think about every fridge it runs and about the dispensary itself, not just the vaccine fridge. For the full teaching on vaccine fridges and excursions, see Vaccine fridges; this page covers how it applies in a pharmacy.
Why it matters
Two kinds of storage, both your responsibility
A pharmacy stores medicines at two temperatures. Fridge lines and vaccines need +2 °C to +8 °C, and most other stock depends on the room staying within its labelled range. UKHSA's hot weather guidance says most medicines should be kept below 25 °C, and SPS says that storing a medicine outside its stated conditions takes it outside its licence. A dispensary that runs hot in summer is a storage problem in the same way as a warm fridge.
Deliveries add a third risk. The Green Book says vaccine deliveries should be checked and refrigerated immediately, and that distributors will not take vaccines back once they have left their control. A tote left at the counter during a busy morning becomes your excursion to manage.
What the rules say
Standards, service specifications and guidance
GPhC standard 4.3 says medicines must be obtained from a reputable source, safe and fit for purpose, stored securely and supplied safely. It contains no temperature wording, so the expectation of daily fridge records and action on out-of-range readings comes from inspection practice and guidance rather than the text of the standard. That reading is based on published inspection outcomes.
If you provide NHS vaccinations, the NHS England advanced service specification for COVID-19 and adult flu vaccination requires SOPs that ensure cold chain integrity, covering escalation, record-keeping and staff training, reviewed regularly and after any significant incident. It does not set reading frequencies or equipment standards, which leaves the detail to the Green Book and your own SOPs.
For the room, SPS's ambient storage guidance says that ideally all medicines storage areas would be controlled between 15 °C and 25 °C. SPS calls min/max recorders the minimum requirement in storage locations. The daily reading and reset comes from 2015 NHS Pharmaceutical QA Committee guidance written for clinical areas, which pharmacies often adopt by analogy.
| Control | GPhC standards | NHS England vaccination specification | Green Book chapter 3 | NHS SPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Uses temperature wording | · | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Sets how often to read | · | · | ✓ | ✓ |
| Sets out excursion steps | · | · | ✓ | ✓ |
| Covers room-temperature storage | · | · | · | ✓ |
Based on the library entries for each source. Read the source itself for the full wording.
What good looks like
Every fridge on the record, and the room as well
Treat every medicines fridge the same way: a pharmaceutical fridge, a calibrated max/min thermometer, and a daily read, record, reset and react. SPS asks for an independent daily check that the readings and resets were actually done, and for every excursion to be recorded locally however minor, with the batch numbers affected and the action taken. Give the dispensary a min/max thermometer too, placed where the room runs warmest.
In hot weather, SPS advises keeping stock to a minimum with strict rotation, moving medicines out of direct sun, using reflective window film and keeping windows and doors closed unless it is cooler outside. Where the problem recurs every summer, SPS points to air conditioning or ambient storage cabinets.
Worked example
Three hot days in the dispensary
This is an illustrative example. During a three-day heatwave, the dispensary logger shows one continuous hot spell, peaking at 28 °C, with the room above 25 °C for about 60 hours in total. The stock on the shelves is labelled "store below 25 °C".
SPS's excursion guidance says a single, isolated excursion of less than 5 °C above the labelled maximum, lasting less than 7 days, is unlikely to have an adverse effect on medicines. One continuous spell peaking 3 °C over the maximum for about 60 hours falls inside that, so the stock can stay in use. With only a min/max thermometer showing a peak each day, you could not show it was a single event: you would assess it as a full excursion with the pharmacist. You record the logger data, the SPS rule you relied on and who decided, then fix the cause. If it happens again next summer, it is no longer an isolated event, and SPS expects a documented risk assessment and possibly shortened expiry dates or cooling.
Where it is unclear
Heatwaves, averages and paper records
Room temperature is where sources differ most: UKHSA's 25 °C ceiling, SPS's single-excursion tolerance and the stricter 2015 NHS QA trigger are compared in room temperature in heatwaves. Whether you can use mean kinetic temperature to average out afternoon spikes is covered in mean kinetic temperature; it needs continuous logger data, not min/max readings. For fridges with loggers, see logger versus daily reading. In each case, assess the risk to your stock and record your reasoning in your SOP.
Inspection findings
One fridge recorded, one forgotten
A 2026 GPhC published improvement action plan recorded standard 4.3 as not met because a pharmacy recorded temperatures for only one of its two medicines fridges, and the unrecorded fridge showed an out-of-range maximum. The fixes included calibrated thermometers, daily recording for both fridges, and noting the reasons for anomalies. It is one inspector's finding, not a GPhC policy statement, but it shows what an inspector will check: every fridge, every day, with reasons written down.
In summary
The short version
- Record every medicines fridge daily, not only the vaccine fridge, with calibrated thermometers.
- Refrigerate deliveries immediately; vaccines cannot be returned to the distributor.
- Monitor the dispensary with a min/max thermometer in the warmest spot.
- Record every excursion, however minor, with batch numbers and actions.
- If you vaccinate under the NHS service, keep cold chain SOPs covering escalation, records and training.
- Treat a room that runs hot every summer as a storage problem to fix, not a series of excursions.