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The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) temporary register which was expected to close on 30 September 2022 will continue for the next two years following a request from the secretary of state for health and social care. The temporary register was set up in 2020 after the then secretary of state asked the GPhC to use its emergency powers in order to rapidly register pharmacy professionals to assist in the national response to the Covid-19 emergency. The UK government has made this decision, which is referenced in its new 'Plan for Patients' in England to enable health professionals on the temporary registers to continue to support the health and social care system. The Government had previously announced that the temporary registers established by the health professional regulators were expected to close on 30 September 2022. The decision by the UK government to ask the regulators to keep the temporary registers means that pharmacy professionals on GPhC temporary register can continue to practise.

New legislative orders approved by the Privy Council will give the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) and Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland (PSNI) powers to set professional standards for Responsible Pharmacists, Superintendent Pharmacists and Chief Pharmacists. The Pharmacy (Preparation and Dispensing Errors - Hospital (and Other Pharmacy Services) Order 2022 and the Pharmacy (Responsible Pharmacists, Superintendent Pharmacists etc.) Order 2022 have been published and are expected to come into force in December 2022. Trevor Patterson, Chief Executive of the Pharmaceutical Society NI said: "We have been working with our colleagues in the GPhC and Government for some time on these two pieces of important legislation and we are delighted they have now reached the statute books. "Both Orders enable and enhance the powers we, and the GPhC, have to define the roles and responsibilities of Responsible, Superintendent and Chief Pharmacists, respectively. They also create protections against criminal prosecution for hospital pharmacists where an inadvertent error is made either in dispensing or assembly, in certain defined circumstances, similar to the protections available to colleagues working in community/registered pharmacy settings. Provisions that allow the appointment of a Deputy Registrar for our organisation will also be introduced.

Pharmacists on the temporary register will be automatically removed on April 1, unless they have applied to rejoin the permanent register, the General Pharmaceutical Council has said. The government asked the GPhC and other pertinent health professional regulators to close temporary registers by March 31, 2024. According to the GPhC, this decision is based on the anticipation that the emergency conditions justifying the establishment of these temporary registers will cease after the approaching winter. The temporary register was established after the Health and Social Care Secretary asked the Council to utilise its emergency powers to swiftly register pharmacy professionals for their essential role in the national COVID-19 response. Pharmacists and pharmacy technicians who had previously opted to withdraw from the GPhC register or failed to renew their registration are now eligible for immediate re-registration, the regulator added.

The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has developed two new resources- Keeping patients safe being open and honest and Pharmacy team toolkit - learning from incidents, to help pharmacists and pharmacy technicians fulfil the duty of candour - the professional responsibility to be open and honest with patients if/when something goes wrong. The new resources bring together relevant existing policy, standards, and previous statements on the professional obligations of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, with respect to candour. It also emphasises that the duty of candour is not an add on - it's a fundamental part of pharmacy professional practice. The responsibility to be open and honest applies even in difficult or challenging times and it's essential that professionals do the right thing for patients, their families and carers. Saying sorry meaningfully when things go wrong is vital for everyone involved. Given the link with issues around liability and indemnity, the National Pharmacy Association and the Pharmacists' Defence Association - as leading providers of professional indemnity - have also contributed to the new resources and highlighted the importance of openness and transparency in this context.

The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) recently issued a public apology after they mistakenly referred to pharmacy technicians as 'pharmacist technicians' in a council paper. It has also written a letter of apology to the President of the Association of Pharmacy Technicians (APTUK) for the error they made. Meanwhile, the Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) has raised concern about an equally worrying trend in which pharmacists are being referred to by the GPhC and others as 'pharmacy professionals', a term that is also used for pharmacy technicians. The association said this creates confusion in the minds of the public about the two roles and responsibilities, which are very different, as well as have impact upon the workplace.

The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has called for comments and views on the recently launched consultation on selecting the appropriate mode of consultation when assessing a person's needs by pharmacy professionals including pharmacist prescribers. The guidance note sets out what the pharmacy professional or prescriber, in agreement with the patient, needs to consider when selecting the mode of consultation - such as face-to-face; video-link, video-chat, or other online platforms; telephone and online questionnaires - best suited to gaining the information needed to deliver safe and effective pharmacy care. The principles outlined in the guidance apply to consultations undertaken in all pharmacy settings, including those undertaken by online pharmacy services providers. "Our plan is to include the contents of this guidance note in the document: 'In practice: Guidance for pharmacist prescribers' when we undertake our next review," said the regulator.

The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) and the Chief Pharmaceutical Officer for England have written a letter to pharmacy professionals thanking them for providing the best possible services to patients and the public, despite experiencing high and sustained demands and pressures. GPhC Chief Executive Duncan Rudkin and CPhO David Webb indicated that there will be further challenges over the coming weeks and months due to the ongoing industrial action, and staff shortages due to sickness or caring responsibilities. They expressed concerned that increased pressure will have a significant and potentially prolonged impact on pharmacy teams both personally and professionally. Acknowledging that pharmacy professionals may have to make some difficult decisions as they deal with the pressures they face, the leaders have urged those working in pharmacy to use "your professional judgement to assess and mitigate risk, and to deliver safe and effective care for your patients within your scope of practice."

The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has developed new draft Standards for Chief Pharmacists to strengthen pharmacy governance. It has set out the professional responsibilities as well as described the knowledge, conduct, and performance required by a chief pharmacist (or equivalent) to support their organisation and its staff to deliver "safe and effective" pharmacy services. The pharmacy regulator has also launched a consultation to find out what patients, carers, and members of the public think about the new draft standards. Participants can share their views "if there are any settings in which the standards could not be applied or met and any positive or negative impacts of the proposals," it said. The survey will open for 12 weeks, from 23 January to 16 April 2024.

Duncan Rudkin, the CEO of the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhc) has highlighted the importance of strengthening pharmacy governance to provide clarity around how pharmacies are organised and managed. This will ensure that patients and the public continue to receive safe and effective pharmacy care, he said while speaking at the annual Sigma Conference in London on Sunday (5 November). According to him, there could be rules that outlined the essential roles and responsibilities of responsible pharmacists, and professional standards for responsible pharmacists, superintended pharmacists and chief pharmacists. He also announced that the GPhC will be shortly launching a consultation to integrate a new set of standards for the statutory role of hospital chief pharmacists "which up until recently has never been recognised in law." It is expected to be launched by early January 2024. However, Duncan, emphasised that they cannot start the work on standards for responsible and superintendent pharmacists until they know the government plans in relation to supervision. "Because of course, the responsible pharmacists' regime, and the supervision regime are in many ways intertwined, and can't certainly be looked at separately.

Blackwells Chemist, a community pharmacy in South East London did not meet all the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) standards. The pharmacy was inspected on Thursday (01 June) and it was found it did not keep all its records up to date and accurate, particularly its responsible pharmacist records. Investigation report stated that the principle of Governance and principle of Services, including medicines management was 'not met at all'. Under the principle Governance, the report stated: "The pharmacy generally manages the risks associated with its services adequately. People using the pharmacy can provide feedback or raise concerns. And staff generally protect people's personal information well. Team members know what to do to help protect the welfare of a vulnerable person. The pharmacy has written procedures, but these are not easily accessible to team members to refer to. And they are not regularly updated. So, they may be less useful to staff, and may not reflect current best practice." In the inspection it was found that the pharmacy does not always store its medicines properly. It cannot show that it stores all its medicines requiring cold storage at the appropriate temperatures.

The professional leadership body for pharmacists has urged the General Pharmaceutical Council's (GPhC) to make it mandatory to have a chief pharmacist within organisations to ensure transparency for patients, the public and pharmacy staff. On 23 January, the GPhC launched a consultation seeking views on the new draft Standards for Chief Pharmacists it has developed to strengthen pharmacy governance. These standards outlined the professional responsibilities and qualifications required by a chief pharmacist to support their organisation and its staff to deliver "safe and effective" pharmacy services. The pharmacy regulator highlighted the importance of having a registered chief pharmacist meeting these standards in hospitals (or relevant settings) to benefit from the new legislation regarding accidental errors. In response to the consultation, the RPS expressed that while meeting these standards could enhance pharmacy governance, they may not provide the framework needed to fully support staff in reporting and learning from errors.

The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has removed a pharmacist from its register who black-marketed 'zolpidem' along with another pharmacist between 2015 and 2016. Dean Zainool Dookhan, a pharmacist first registered with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain on 18 October 2004 and whose registration was later transferred to the General Pharmaceutical Council under registration number 2059808, was jailed last year for exporting 20,000 packets of zolpidem to the Caribbean. While hearing the case on 24-25 May, GPhC's Fitness to Practise Committee stated that "removal of the Registrant's name from the register is the appropriate and proportionate response to his convictions." "The public interest includes protecting the public, maintaining public confidence in the profession, and maintaining proper standards of behaviour. The Committee is entitled to give greater weight to the public interest than the Registrant's own interest in remaining on the register." "The Committee recognises the sanction has a punitive effect in that the Registrant's ability to practise and earn an income as a pharmacist and 28 his professional reputation will be curtailed; it will be five years before he can seek restoration to the register. However, that is the price he must pay for failing to comply with the fundamental tenets of his profession."

The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has raised concerns over the rising risks related to online pharmacy services. It revealed over 30 per cent of its open Fitness to Practise (FtP) cases were related to online pharmacy, which is disproportionate to the sector of the market that online services occupy. The regulator has advised pharmacists and pharmacy owners providing online services that they should "not work with online providers who try to circumvent the regulatory oversight put in place within the UK to ensure patient safety". In the past five months, the Council has imposed seven interim orders on the registration of pharmacists who have worked for or with online prescribing services - after identifying serious concerns with their practice. It said: "These pharmacists were working as pharmacist independent prescribers for online services or were dispensing medicines prescribed online. Some of these pharmacists were the Responsible Pharmacist (RP) or the Superintendent Pharmacist (SP)."

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has published plans to amend current pharmacy legislation on dispensing errors and clarify how registered pharmacies are governed. The Department's response to a public consultation on rebalancing medicines legislation and pharmacy regulation programme first proposed in summer 2018 was delayed due to Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic. The programme aims to clarify and strengthen the organisational governance arrangements of registered pharmacies, specifically to define and clarify the core purpose of the Responsible Pharmacist and Superintendent Pharmacist roles. It will also give the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) powers to define in professional standards how those roles are fulfilled.

The Council of Pharmaceutical Society NI (PSNI) has introduced an 8-week public consultation on proposed Guidance on Pharmacy Staffing Levels within registered premises. The principle-based Guidance seeks to assist Pharmacy Owners and Superintendents to ensure that each pharmacy has enough appropriately skilled and qualified staff to provide safe and effective pharmacy services to the public. All registered pharmacies will have to meet the standards set out in the Premises Standards, when commenced. PSNI said: "The proposed Guidance should also help ensure a working environment that will facilitate pharmacists to meet their professional obligations under the Professional Standards of Conduct, Ethics and Performance for Pharmacists in Northern Ireland (2016)." "Whilst other health regulators have primary responsibility for systems regulation outside of regulated premises, we consider that the principles outlined in this Guidance, will be helpful for managers working with pharmacy teams in different settings."