Key Summary
- This advice should be applied alongside the standards for pharmacy professionals, which all pharmacists and pharmacy technicians must meet.
- The newly-qualified prescribing pharmacists should also adhere to the other relevant standards and guidance that apply to their role and place of work.
- Employers and managers should support newly-qualified prescribing pharmacist to understand, document and work within their scope.
The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has published advice to support newly-qualified prescribing pharmacists, a few months ahead of the first cohort joining the register.
The regulatory body has also formulated guidance for employers and managers on creating supportive environments for newly-qualified prescribers.
The GPhC said they have made fundamental changes to the initial education and training standards to make sure pharmacists are ready to join the register as prescribers.
This includes embedding and developing the knowledge, skills and behaviours required for independent prescribing across the four-year pharmacy degree and the supervised foundation training year that all trainee pharmacists need to complete.
Those who complete their MPharm under the 2021 initial education and training standards (qualifying from summer 2026) will join the register as pharmacist independent prescribers.
The advice for newly-qualified independent prescribers covers the following key areas:
- GPhC guidance for pharmacist prescribers
- Scope of prescribing practice
- Support and mentorship
- Prescribing decisions
- Private prescribing
- Indemnity
- Revalidation
- What employers and managers should do to support newly qualified prescribers.
This advice should be applied alongside the standards for pharmacy professionals, which all pharmacists and pharmacy technicians must meet, and the GPhC's existing guidance for pharmacist prescribers.
The newly-qualified prescribing pharmacists should also adhere to the other relevant standards and guidance that apply to their role and place of work.
These may be from the Care Quality Commission, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, Healthcare Inspectorate Wales, Healthcare Improvement Scotland, the Advertising Standards Authority, the Royal College of Pharmacy, the NHS or their employer.
The advice emphasises the importance of practising within individual scope, seeking appropriate support and mentorship, and making prescribing decisions in the best interests of patients.
It also underlines the need to keep up to date, maintain appropriate indemnity cover, and engage in revalidation to support ongoing professional development.
Advice for employers and managers
The GPhC wants employers and managers to take stock of their workforce’s scope of practice, when deciding which services to offer, bearing in mind their responsibilities as a service provider.
If they employ or manage a newly qualified prescribing pharmacist, they should support them to understand, document and work within their scope.
They should make sure that the newly-qualified prescriber works within their competence and experience, and asking them to prescribe beyond their current scope could endanger patient safety.
They should support newly-qualified prescribing pharmacists to maintain and develop their prescribing practice and facilitate appropriate and supportive supervision and training.
