These Terms and Conditions govern your use of the Pharmshark website and any products or services purchased through it. By creating an account or placing an order, you agree to be bound by these terms. Please read them carefully before proceeding.

1. About Pharmshark

Pharmshark is a pharmacy education resource providing clinical reference materials for registered pharmacists and qualified healthcare professionals. It is operated as a sole trader business based in the United Kingdom.

Pharmshark is a trading name of Mr C J Dotchin.
31 Queen Street, Grange Villa, Chester-le-Street,
County Durham, DH2 3LU, United Kingdom
Email: admin@pharmshark.co.uk

This is the geographical address at which Pharmshark carries on business, and the address to which any notice, cancellation or complaint may be sent.

2. Eligibility

The educational content and products available on this website are intended solely for use by registered pharmacists and other qualified healthcare professionals. By creating an account, you confirm that you are a healthcare professional using these materials in the course of your practice. Pharmshark reserves the right to suspend or terminate accounts where this condition is not met.

3. Clinical Disclaimer

The checklists, reference materials, and all other clinical content provided by Pharmshark are intended solely as aide-memoires for use by registered pharmacists and other qualified healthcare professionals in the course of their practice. They do not constitute clinical advice, replace professional judgement, or supersede current clinical guidelines, local protocols, or the instructions of a supervising clinician. No liability is accepted by Pharmshark for any clinical decision made, or omitted, in reliance upon these materials. Users remain solely responsible for the accuracy of their clinical assessment and the appropriateness of any action taken. These materials are not intended for use by, or distribution to, members of the general public.

4. Orders and Payment

All prices are stated in pounds sterling (GBP) and are inclusive of any applicable postage where stated. Payment is processed securely by Stripe Payments Europe Ltd. Pharmshark does not store or have access to your card details at any point. An order confirmation will be sent to your registered email address upon successful payment. Pharmshark reserves the right to cancel any order and issue a full refund where fulfilment is not possible.

5. Membership Subscriptions

5.1 What membership is. A free Pharmshark account, with a verified email address, includes a limited number of CPD activities each calendar month and access to dispensing figures. Pharmshark Plus is a paid monthly membership that adds unlimited CPD activities and a monthly allowance of pharmacy analyses (competitive position and local health profiles). The current allowances are shown on the membership page and form part of these terms.

5.2 Price and payment. Pharmshark Plus costs £4.99 per month. Pharmshark is not currently registered for VAT, so no VAT is charged and £4.99 is the total amount payable. Payment is taken in advance by Stripe Payments Europe Ltd. Pharmshark does not receive, store or have access to your card details.

5.3 Automatic renewal. Membership renews automatically each month on the anniversary of the date you joined, and continues until cancelled. Each renewal is taken from the payment method held by Stripe. You may cancel at any time and renewal then stops.

5.4 Your 14-day right to cancel. Under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 you normally have 14 days to cancel a contract made at a distance. Because membership gives you immediate access to digital content, you are asked at checkout to confirm that you want it to start straight away and that you understand this affects that right. Regardless of that, Pharmshark will refund your first monthly payment in full if you ask within 14 days of joining — email admin@pharmshark.co.uk, or write to the address in section 1. This is in addition to your legal rights and does not affect them.

5.5 Cancelling your membership. You can cancel at any time from Manage membership on the My CPD page, which opens the secure billing portal provided by Stripe. You may instead cancel by any clear statement to that effect sent by email to admin@pharmshark.co.uk or in writing to the address in section 1. Cancellation stops future payments. You keep full access until the end of the month you have already paid for, and the part-month is not refunded except under 5.4 or where the law requires it.

5.6 If a payment fails. Where a payment fails, Stripe will retry it over a period of approximately three weeks. Your membership stays active during that time, so that an expired or replaced card does not immediately cut off access. If payment is not successfully taken, membership ends and the account returns to the free tier.

5.7 Changes to price or allowances. Pharmshark may change the price or the monthly allowances. You will be given at least 30 days' notice by email before any change affects you, and you may cancel before it takes effect. Allowances already used in the current month are unaffected by a change.

5.8 CPD certificates are yours permanently. Any CPD certificate you have earned remains valid, accessible and independently verifiable whether or not you continue as a member. Membership is never a condition of keeping a certificate you have already earned.

5.9 Nature of the analyses. The competitive position, market share and local health information provided to members is indicative decision-support derived from published NHS open data. It is not a valuation, a recommendation, or financial, commercial or professional advice, and must not be relied upon as the sole basis for any commercial decision. The clinical disclaimer at section 3 applies equally to all membership content.

5.10 Fair use. Membership is for one named individual. Accounts must not be shared, and access may be suspended where sharing, automated collection of data, or use inconsistent with these terms is identified.

5.11 Suspension and termination. Pharmshark may suspend or end a membership where these terms are breached, or where the eligibility condition at section 2 is not met. Where membership is ended other than for a breach by you, any unexpired part-month will be refunded.

5.12 Complaints. Please contact admin@pharmshark.co.uk, or write to the address in section 1. Complaints are acknowledged within 5 working days.

6. Delivery

Physical products are dispatched by Royal Mail to the delivery address provided at checkout. Pharmshark endeavours to dispatch orders within 3 working days of payment being received. Delivery timescales are estimates only and Pharmshark accepts no liability for delays caused by Royal Mail or other circumstances outside its control.

7. Returns and Refunds

In accordance with the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, you have the right to cancel your order within 14 days of receipt without giving a reason. To exercise this right, contact Pharmshark at admin@pharmshark.co.uk, or in writing at the address in section 1, within 14 days of receiving your order. Where a refund is approved, it will be issued to your original payment method within 14 days. Return postage costs are the responsibility of the customer unless the item was received damaged or incorrectly supplied.

8. Intellectual Property

All content on this website, including but not limited to clinical articles, checklists, and design elements, is the intellectual property of Pharmshark. You may not reproduce, distribute, or commercially exploit any content without prior written permission. Personal use by the purchasing healthcare professional is permitted.

9. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, Pharmshark shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, or consequential loss arising from use of this website or its content. Nothing in these terms excludes liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for any other liability that cannot be excluded under English law.

10. Governing Law

These Terms and Conditions are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales. Any disputes arising shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

Pharmshark is committed to protecting the personal data of individuals who use this website or purchase products through it. This policy explains what data we collect, why we collect it, and how it is handled, in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

The data controller is Mr C J Dotchin, trading as Pharmshark, of 31 Queen Street, Grange Villa, Chester-le-Street, County Durham, DH2 3LU, United Kingdom. Data protection enquiries should be sent to admin@pharmshark.co.uk or to that address.

1. Data We Collect

When you create an account we collect your full name and email address. When you place an order we additionally collect your postal delivery address. Payment card data is processed exclusively by Stripe Payments Europe Ltd on our behalf; we do not receive, store, or have access to your card details at any point.

Where you take out a paid membership we additionally hold a record of your membership tier, its start and renewal dates, and the identifier Stripe uses for your customer record. We also record the date on which you confirmed that you wanted membership to begin immediately, because we are required to be able to evidence that confirmation. Card details remain with Stripe at all times.

2. Why We Collect It

Your name and email address are used to manage your account and send order confirmations. Your postal address is used solely to fulfil and dispatch your order. We do not operate a mailing list and will not contact you for marketing purposes without your explicit consent.

3. Legal Basis

Processing of account data is carried out on the basis of your consent (UK GDPR Article 6(1)(a)). Processing of order data is necessary for the performance of the contract between you and Pharmshark (UK GDPR Article 6(1)(b)).

4. Retention

Account data is retained for as long as your account remains active. Order records are retained for six years in accordance with HMRC requirements. Data is securely deleted upon the expiry of the applicable retention period.

5. Sharing

We do not sell or share your personal data with third parties, except where strictly necessary to fulfil your order (Royal Mail as delivery carrier, Stripe as payment processor) or as required by law.

6. Your Rights

Under UK GDPR you have the right to access, correct, restrict, or request deletion of your personal data at any time. To exercise any of these rights, contact us at admin@pharmshark.co.uk or write to the address given above. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk) if you believe your data has been handled unlawfully.