The General Pharmaceutical Council is appointing a new Chief Pharmacy Officer to strengthen the professional voice within the senior leadership team. This
introduction is aimed at fostering a culture of enterprise leadership, inclusion and collaboration within the organisation, GPhC said in a statement.
According to GPhC, the Chief Pharmacy Officer will serve as the authoritative representative of the pharmacy regulator in public, within the pharmacy professions,
and increasingly in multi-disciplinary teams and collaborative regulatory work. "They will act as the executive lead on pharmacy inspection and regulatory insight,
providing professional leadership within the GPhC and collaborating closely with pharmacist and pharmacy technician colleagues across the organisation."
The Chief Pharmacy Officer, reporting to the Chief Executive and Registrar, will hold the highest professional position within the GPhC executive, providing pharmacy
leadership across the organisation, GPhC said.
Out of the 2,805 students who sat for the common registration assessment test for pharmacists this June, approximately 2,150 have passed the exam, according
to the General Pharmaceutical Council. It assesses pharmacy graduates' knowledge and skills to ensure safe and effective practice as pharmacists.
This year, the pass rate was 77 per cent, slightly lower than the 80 per cent pass rate in June 2022, where 2,147 out of 2,697 candidates cleared the assessment,
GPhC data showed.
The exam comprises a written assessment testing pharmaceutical science and pharmacy practice knowledge and a practical assessment evaluating clinical skills and
patient-facing competencies. Eligible candidates must complete an accredited pharmacy degree program and meet GPhC requirements.
The assessment is conducted jointly by the General Pharmaceutical Council and the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland.
"The assessment is a primary method for testing trainees' ability to apply knowledge and make professional judgments in pharmacy practice," said Mark Voce, Director
of Education and Standards, GPhC. "This is crucial in assuring patients and the public that they are in safe hands."
The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) today decided to convene a new group, involving all the key stakeholders, focused on assurance of practice post-registration.
The decision in today's (9 December) council meeting follows the recommendation of a working group chaired by council member and pharmacist Aamer Safdar on the role of the regulator in post-registration education and training.
The new group will be tasked with articulating a set of guiding principles where patient safety is the overarching priority, after carrying out a horizon scanning exercise to pull together an understanding of the system wide approach currently in place.
The working group noted that the wider approach, in relation to regulation of post-registration practice and not simply education and training, may require the GPhC reviewing and developing its own control measures, and involving patients and the public in the next stages of work.
Reviewing the work on online pharmacy services, the council meeting supported the regulator's plans to continue to require pharmacy websites to be arranged so that a person cannot choose a prescription only medicine and its quantity before there has been an appropriate consultation with a prescriber.
Pharmacy professionals due to submit their revalidation records on or before May 31, 2022 only need to present a reflective account until June 1, 2022, the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has said.
GPhC has extended the deadline, considering the continuation of pressures related to the Covid-19 pandemic and the Omicron variant, that pharmacy professionals are facing this winter.
Changes to revalidation requirements were first introduced in March 2020 due to pressures on pharmacy professionals during the pandemic.
The changes were then extended until March 1, 2022, with the GPhC remaining committed to keep the situation under review.
"Our current intention is that full revalidation will not resume until the emergency powers for the pandemic introduced by the secretary of state for health and social care are removed, but we will continue to keep this under active review," GPhC stated.
In response to stakeholder feedback, the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) is developing a streamlined, single route to registration that will replace
the current multiple-pathway system for overseas pharmacists wishing to practice in Great Britain.
This revised approach will include updated standards for the education and training of internationally qualified pharmacists, with all applicants still required
to pass a registration assessment.
The GPhC's Council intends to streamline the registration pathway, reducing the two-year process to one-year process.
This new pathway will encompass both university study and in-practice training.
Historically, pharmacists qualified within the European Economic Area (EEA) or European Free Trade Association (EFTA) have been eligible for qualification
recognition in Great Britain.
While this recognition has been extended until September 2028, the future requirement for EEA-qualified pharmacists to undergo the new registration route
remains contingent on forthcoming government decisions.
Initially, the GPhC had explored the development of three distinct registration routes for internationally-qualified pharmacists, "however decided to change
this proposed approach after considering feedback from stakeholders."
Pharmacists with 'relevant experience in a pharmacy setting' can enroll for accredited independent prescribing course, as the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has decided to scrap the requirement of spending at least two years on the register and having previous experience in a specified clinical or therapeutic area before enrolling for the course.
The GPhC Council meeting held on Thursday instead proposed that applicants must have "relevant experience in a pharmacy setting and be able to recognise, understand
and articulate the skills and attributes required by a prescriber." This experience and awareness will act as the basis of their prescribing practice whilst training.
The regulator noted that the majority of stakeholder organisations, including the Chief Pharmaceutical Officers, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society and the statutory education bodies, were in favour of removing the requirement in a consultation on the topic.
They highlighted that a specific two-year period was not in itself a robust indication of whether an individual was ready to become a prescriber.
They also highlighted that the rapidly developing roles in the profession meant more pharmacists were likely to gain the necessary experience more quickly than in the past. A smaller number of organisations and a larger minority of individuals were opposed, citing that a specific two-year period gave pharmacists the time they needed to develop experience and confidence before being ready to enrol on a course.
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.
In a recent minute of meeting, the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) explored the implications of its unique authority under the Regulation of
Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA), granting powers for covert surveillance.
Although never utilized, the GPhC is obligated to maintain appropriate policies for such actions.
During a recent meeting, the pharmacy regulator discussed that the use of RIPA be brought to a future Council workshop to discuss issues including the "ethical
implications of having and using the powers, the possible use of RIPA in online pharmacy investigations and retaining the powers to deal with future scenarios as
yet unknown".
Led by Chief Executive and Registrar, Duncan Rudkin, the discussion underscored the importance of having robust oversight mechanisms in place.
The inspection report provided assurance that the GPhC's policies align with regulatory requirements.
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.
In a surprising move that has divided the pharmacy profession, the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has sanctioned hundreds of pharmacies to allow
patients to self-select certain Pharmacy (P) medicines, a decision met with strong opposition from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) as well as from the
Pharmacy Defense Association (PDA).
In a statement, RPS shared that at a board meeting held on 19th June, they expressed "disappointment" over what they described as a lack of prior consultation
and comprehensive communication from the GPhC regarding the implications of this policy shift.
They argue that allowing patients to self-select certain P medicines could potentially jeopardize established professional guidelines and compromise the role of
pharmacists in ensuring safe medication use.
"Enabled by the General Pharmaceutical Council, we understand that hundreds of pharmacies, from large multiples to small independents, have been approved by the
regulator to enable patients to self-select certain P medicines," the statement said.
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 announced that the new requirement for independent prescribing courses will be applicable from 1st of October 2022.
Pharmacists currently taking independent prescribing courses and those who apply before 1 October won't be affected by the changes.
The new guidance was agreed at the council meeting on 8 September and went to the initial education and training Advisory Group on 22 September where it was well
received, the GPhC said.
"The guidance is now being finalised to reflect the discussions at the Council meeting and the initial education and training advisory group and will be published
in October."
The new guidance is relevant for both course providers and applicants and gives some specific suggestions and examples of what we may expect. It will support
consistency in the way education providers applied the new standards and will help individual pharmacists to understand the relevant experience they would need
before enrolling on a course.
The Council of the Pharmaceutical Society NI (PSNI) to remove the two-year requirement as a registered pharmacist to have an Independent Prescriber (IP)
annotation on the pharmacy register in Northern Ireland.
It has further endorsed that the two-year requirement for entry onto stand-alone pharmacist independent prescribing courses be removed and replaced with an
assessment before admission, by course providers, based upon guidance provided by the regulator.
In conjunction with the Department of Health, the PSNI will now work towards a further public consultation on the necessary legislative changes.
Dr Jim Livingstone, president of the PSNI, said: "The Department of Health has set a clear direction which will see pharmacist independent prescribers becoming
increasingly important in the delivery of pharmacy services in Northern Ireland. Our role is to protect the public, but we are clear that our regulatory objective
should not be an unnecessary barrier to the development of the profession and enhanced services being provided to the public."
Pharmacist supervision has been the subject of debate for as long as I can remember. Strikingly, no one is sure what supervision requires.
The Human Medicines Regulations 2012 say it is a criminal offence to sell or supply Pharmacy medicines or Prescription Only Medicines unless a pharmacist makes
the sale or supply or, if the transaction is carried out by a non-pharmacist, that person acts under the supervision of a pharmacist.
Over the years, some people have argued that supervision requires a clinical check. Others say it requires an accuracy assessment. Yet others have asserted that it requires a final check before a medicine leaves the pharmacy.
Things are made more uncertain by the NHS terms of service which require prescription medicines to be supplied under the direct supervision of a pharmacist.
No one knows what the word "direct" adds.
The wording of the Human Medicines Regulations is not identical to the wording of earlier legislation. In particular, on the only occasions when the courts have
been called upon to interpret the requirement for supervision, the Pharmacy and Poisons Act 1933 was in force.
In cases decided in 1943 and 1953, the courts decided that a pharmacist who was upstairs when a supply was made could not have been supervising; and that a sale was supervised by pharmacist standing at the cash desk because the pharmacist could intervene if a sale would not be appropriate.
Today I'm proud to share with you the statement we submitted to the UK Commission on Pharmacy Professional Leadership in which we set out what professional
leadership means to RPS.
I recognise we haven't always been clear in communicating our ideas to members and our external stakeholders. Through the Commission, and our own Independent
Review of member participation and communications, we are determined to remedy this.
We're committed to lead pharmacy in the best interest of patients and the professions. This means that sometimes we will need to take difficult decisions. We will
do the right thing for the long term, ultimately driving what's best for patient care.
There are some key changes we believe are necessary to fulfil the profession's ambitions.
To achieve a more unified approach to pharmacy leadership, we believe both pharmacists and pharmacy technicians should be represented by RPS within professional
faculties that capitalise on the strengths of each discipline whilst retaining distinct professional voices.
Many of our members work with pharmacy technicians every day and know just how essential they are to their role and to patient care. We feel the same at RPS and it
makes perfect sense to evolve into an organisation where both professions can advance their scope of practice, working in alignment as part of the wider
multi-professional team.
We will develop and implement post-registration curricula and credentialing for all pharmacists and pharmacy technicians working with patients and the public. To
do this we will require formal delegation of authority by the GPhC.
Two weeks prior to the closing of the hub and spoke consultation, issues around patient safety, costs and competition as well as practicalities such as what
to do with uncollected medicines were discussed in a webinar on hub and spoke dispensing on Wednesday (May 26).
The webinar was organised by Sigma Pharmaceuticals in association with the National Pharmacy Association (NPA).
NPA director of corporate affairs Gareth Jones chaired the event and was joined by Sigma's Hatul Shah and Raj Haria as well as NPA vice chair Nick Kaye and NPA
head of advice and support services Jasmine Shah.
Kaye said: "There are still many 'unknown unknowns' with hub and spoke and the jury's still out on any potential benefits. I have lots of reservations about cost
and it worries me how efficient this is for the business and the long term sustainability for the sector as a whole. Above all we need to think about the patient
at the centre of all this and the potential confusion for them."
Jasmine Shah felt patient safety was going to be the key in regards to whether the spoke and the hub would hold the ultimate responsibility and "who is going to
take the accountability as far as patient care goes".
She added: "It is most important that GPhC standards and NHS requirement are both met in identifying all the risks associated with the arrangement with hub and
spoke and ensuring that (patient safety) measures are in place. Everything that needs to be looked at is by putting the patient at heart of the arrangement and
seeing what is the safest way for them to receive care from both spoke and hub."
The Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) has raised concern over the Health Education England (HEE)'s decision on cutting funding to independent prescribing
training.
The HEE has reportedly decided that no funding will be available to back-fill trainees undertaking the pharmacist independent prescribing (PIP) qualification, or
for the supervision of trainees by DPPs and DMPs.
The PDA noted that, whilst all successful trainee pharmacists will be entering the GPhC register as independent prescribers from 2026, the existing pharmacist
workforce is reliant on opportunities to undertake prescriber training through release from their employment, and the ability to secure a Designated Medical
Practitioner (DMP) or Designated Prescribing Practitioner (DPP) to support the 90 days of supervised practice required.
The association said it has already heard examples of potential DMPs or DPPs requesting a significant fee from trainees before they will provide supervision,
adding that meeting that request is not an option for many.
"This latest decision threatens to undermine the availability of the large numbers of pharmacists seeing supervisors as more IP training becomes available," it
said in a statement.
A BBC investigation has found 20 UK online pharmacies selling prescription-only medicines without adhering to the regulatory standards, such as checking
for GP approval or patient's medical records.
The news organisation was able to purchase over 1,600 restricted pills, including anti-anxiety drug, painkiller and sleeping medication, from these regulated
online pharmacies easily by providing false information.
However, the report didn't mention the names of the drugs as "they can be dangerous when taken without medical guidance."
Some pharmacies were also found selling high-risk and potentially addictive medicines, including benzodiazepines and antidepressants, based on online questionnaires
and did not require further checks.
The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC), which regulate online pharmacies in the UK, states that selling and supplying medicines at a distance brings
"different risks which need to be appropriately managed to protect patient safety."
The Health Education England (HEE) has secured funding to further support growth of the pharmacy technician workforce in 2022/23.
This support is through expansion of pre-registration trainee pharmacy technician (PTPT) training capacity in community pharmacy or as part of a cross-sector
integrated apprenticeship programme.
HEE will be holding two 90-minute webinars on Monday 27 2022. There will be a morning webinar (10-11.30am) and an evening webinar (7-8.30pm) for attendees to
choose from.
Topics like- available funding; eligibility for funding; PTPT training programme requirements for employers; how to apply for this funding; and the support
available from HEE for successful funding of applicants to develop their PTPT training programmes, will be covered during the webinars.
HEE is also hosting another webinar to provide an update on the Independent Prescribing (IP) for pharmacists training offer that they are developing for Autumn 2022.
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."