56 per cent pass in November registration assessment

A total of 525 candidates have passed the common registration assessment for pharmacists held in November, the regulators GPhC and PSNI have announced on Tuesday.

With 937 candidates sitting for the registration assessment, held jointly by the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) and Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland (PSNI) on 3 November, the pass rate was 56 per cent, down from the 61 per cent for the Autumn 2021.

Among the GPhC candidates, 59 per cent were sitting for the first time, 30 per cent for the second time and 8 per cent for the third time. (The break-up was not available for the 3 per cent PSNI candidates.)

In comparison, for the June sitting 89 per cent of candidates were sitting for the first time, 7 per cent were sitting for the second time and 4 per cent were sitting for the third time.

“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,” Duncan Rudkin, GPhC chief executive said.

“We know how important the assessment was for candidates as they came to the end of five years of initial education and training. We worked closely with the PSNI and our provider, BTL, to ensure that everything went as smoothly as possible on the day of the assessment, and we hope the candidates taking it were able to focus all of their efforts on completing the assessment successfully.”

“We wish the successful candidates all the best in their future careers and encourage those who were unsuccessful to make full use of our guide to help them with their next steps towards future registration and success in the profession.”

The regulator has made a guide available on its website for  those who did not pass, outlining all the options that may be available. There are also links to organizations and resources that can provide support with mental health and wellbeing.