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 promoted Louise Edwards to the position of Chief Strategy Officer and Deputy Registrar.
Louise is currently the Director of Regulation and Digital Transformation at the Electoral Commission, responsible for the organisation's regulatory work and
digital, data, technology and facilities infrastructure.
This includes funding and spending at elections and referendums, registering political parties, enforcement work, and data and information management.
Louise will take over Mark Voce, the GPhC's current Chief Strategy Officer and Deputy Registrar, who is retiring early in July 2024.
Louise said: "Pharmacy services are at the heart of health care for many people. Having effective regulation and standards in place can transform and give
confidence in the quality of care that people receive.
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."
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.
Online pharmacies have to operate from bricks & mortar premises that are registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council, but recent cases show that, in
reality, the practices of online pharmacies are often very different to other pharmacies, and the regulation of online pharmacies is also different - and evolving
as issues arise.
For a start, the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) is only one of the regulators taking an interest in online pharmacy services. Other regulators include the
Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) which enforces the advertising and promotion of medicines, and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) which
regulates prescribing services.
The different regulation of online pharmacies is attributable to the higher risk to patients and the public from medicines bought online. These risks often arise
from a combination of patients who do not tell the truth in order to obtain medicines and the nature of a transaction in which a pharmacist does not see patients
face-to-face.
"The GPhC has strong enforcement powers that it uses when it considers its premises standards have not complied with."
However, there are also things that go wrong because pharmacists have simply failed to act professionally or take sufficient care, as well as cases where things
have gone wrong through misfortune.
As part of its inclusion and diversity strategy, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) has launched a campaign to challenge barriers to working in pharmacy for those with disabilities.
A profession-wide survey on the subject conducted by the RPS, identified disability as the biggest barrier to working in pharmacy, highlighting the area of work to support pharmacists.
The campaign will focus on reducing barriers to enter the profession, developing more accessible working environments and encouraging employers to collect data on disability in the workplace.
The campaign, based on inputs from the RPS Ability Group volunteers with visible and non-visible disabilities, will run until the end of March.
Following recommendation of the RPS Ability Group, RPS has written to the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) the Higher Education Occupational Practitioners (HEOPS) to update the guidance on standards of medical fitness for pharmacy students.
The implementation of the 2017 standards for the initial education and training of pharmacy technicians (IETPT) has improved the performance and
preparedness for practice among recently registered pharmacy technicians and the wider workforce, according to a new study.
Results of the 2023 research study commissioned by the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) showed that 72 per cent of pharmacy technicians felt "well prepared"
for practice after training. More number of pharmacy technicians in the community pharmacy expressed readiness for practice (82 per cent) than their peers in the
hospital pharmacy (64 peer cent).
Led by the Centre for Pharmacy Workforce Studies (CPWS) at the University of Manchester and the consultancy service, ICF, the study involved 142 recently registered
pharmacy technicians and 21 employers and supervisors of trainees.
Overall, 96 per cent of the surveyed respondents believed that the course effectively covered person-centred care, professionalism and professional knowledge and
skills.
Thorrun Govind, a former chair of the English Pharmacy Board of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, has joined Brabners' regulatory & professional conduct team.
With nearly a decade of experience as a GPhC-registered pharmacist, Govind will provide guidance on regulatory and professional conduct issues.
Govind's expertise extends to healthcare advisory and disputes involving NHS Trusts and social care organisations.
She has been recognised as the 'Young Pharmacist of the Year' by Pharmacy Business Magazine and is a frequent commentator on public health and healthcare law
for major television networks.
Her appointment underscores Brabners' commitment to offering top-tier legal services to the healthcare industry.
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 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.
Trainee pharmacists across Great Britain are preparing to participate in Pharmacist Support's annual Trainee ACTNow Wellbeing Campaign, scheduled from
May 20th to 24th.
Organised by the charity, this initiative aims to provide essential support as trainees approach the culmination of their placements and gear up for the General
Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) assessment.
Danielle Hunt, Chief Executive of Pharmacist Support, highlighted the campaign's focus on addressing the significant stress and pressure trainees may experience
during this critical period.
She stated: "We understand the anxiety and pressure they may feel, not only in preparing for the assessment but also in stepping into their roles as registered
pharmacists."
The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has alerted pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, and pharmacy owners via email regarding new emergency legislation
governing the prescribing and supply of puberty-suppressing hormones, commonly known as 'puberty blockers', for children and young people under 18 in England,
Wales, and Scotland.
The regulations apply to gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) analogues, used to suppress puberty as part of treating gender incongruence or gender dysphoria in
individuals under 18.
Effective from 3 June 2024, new private prescriptions for GnRH analogues from prescribers in the European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland who are not UK
registered are banned from being dispensed in Great Britain for patients under 18.
The emergency ban on these medicines will remain in effect until September 3, 2024, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) announced on 29 May, stating
that the action has been taken to address risks to "patient safety."
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."
The number of pharmacists working in community pharmacy in England has increased by 19 per cent in five years, according to new data released by the
Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).
As of 31 October 2022, there were 27,711 community pharmacists in the country, as compared to 23,284 in 2017, an increase of almost 4,500.
Pharmacy minister Andrea Leadsom revealed these figures yesterday (14 December) while responding to a written question from Karin Smyth, Shadow Minister of Health,
in the parliament.
Smyth asked - how many and what proportion of community pharmacists have worked in England for each of the last 10 years.
