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All candidates in Great Britain who faced problems when sitting the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC)'s registration assessment will be eligible for provisional registration, the pharmacy regulator has announced. However, they are eligible only if they meet eligibility criteria set out in the GPhC policy which states: "Have sat the registration assessment on 29 June 2022 and experienced delays of 30 minutes or more in starting or completing either or both Part 1 and/or Part 2 of the registration assessment due to technical or other IT difficulties (This also includes those who withdrew from the registration assessment on the day due to the start of the assessment being delayed by 30 minutes or more)." GPhC added that these candidates will also be able to claim a full refund, and this sitting will not count as one of their three attempts. Gisela Abbam, chair of the GPhC, said: "We would like to sincerely apologise again to the candidates who experienced significant problems during their registration assessment sitting.

While thanking the provisionally registered pharmacists and their employers for supporting NHS services during the pandemic, the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has asked the 63 eligible candidates to join the main register by January 31 to continue practicing. A total number of 4,799 provisionally-registered pharmacists have been on the provisional register since it was introduced in July 2020 in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, which had affected the registration assessment schedule. As of Tuesday (January 18), 237 were still on the provisional register, of which 84 have begun the process to join the main register, 90 did not sat an assessment, while 63 eligible candidates are yet to start their application. The register enabled trainees who had completed their training to support NHS services and provide patient care effectively as provisionally-registered pharmacists, while they waited to sit the registration assessment. After providing three potential opportunities to trainees to sit the registration assessment - in March, July and November 2021, the provisional register will close on January 31, 2022.

The result of the common registration assessment for pharmacists, held jointly by the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) and Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland (PSNI), have been published with an overall pass rate of 80 per cent. A total of 2,697 candidates sat the registration assessment in four countries on 29 June and 2,147 candidates passed the assessment. This summer's pass rate has fallen to 80 per cent compared with the 82 per cent pass rate for the summer 2021 registration assessment, and the 61 per cent pass rate for the Autumn 2021 registration assessment. GPhC chief executive Duncan Rudkin said: "We would like to congratulate the successful candidates and we look forward to them joining our register and continuing to the next stage of their career. "However, we appreciate that the June registration assessment was a difficult and stressful experience for many - and we are extremely sorry about the problems faced by a number of candidates on the day. "For those who did not pass, there is a guide on our website [PDF 255 KB] outlining all the options that may be available, such as provisional registration and the right to appeal. There are also links to organisations and resources that can provide support with mental health and wellbeing.

The Pharmacist' Defence Association (PDA) has welcomed the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) and the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland (PSNI)'s plan to ensure a more robust, fair and positive experience for trainees, provisionally registered and potential pharmacists who will be sitting the November 2022 assessment. "Many candidates at the latest (June 2022) assessment experienced significant delays, technical issues, inadequate invigilation, and disturbances in test centres around the UK as the newly appointed company BTL ran the high-stakes pharmacist examinations for the first time. The next online exam is due in November 2022 and the PDA welcome proposed improvements to be introduced before that sitting," said the association. For some, provisional registration was the accepted response from the GPhC, but for others, such as potential pharmacists who did not want the provisional role, those unable to find a suitable provisional post, or some that did not meet the criteria for provisional registration, they found themselves in financial difficulties through no fault of their own, having reasonably expected to have joined the register in the Summer.