Provisionally registered pharmacists in Scotland who failed the March registration assessment will now receive financial support from the NHS to retake the exams in July.
In an update on Monday (May 11), NHS Education for Scotland said: “Provisionally registered pharmacists who failed their March 2021 General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) registration assessment are being offered financial and educational support to retake their assessment in July.”
It added: “The move recognises the difficult circumstances for many provisionally registered pharmacists this year.”
The NHS Education for Scotland has already written to eligible individuals and employers to offer financial support to carry on employing these individuals as a ‘Band 5’ employee or equivalent until the results of the July GPhC registration assessment are known.
The ‘Band 5’ or equivalent employees will also be offered a three-month educational support package to further prepare them for the GPhC registration assessment sitting in July. This includes online assessment style questions and peer support sessions with protected study time.
Professor Anne Watson, pharmacy dean for Scotland at NES said: “We want to support people as much as possible. Offering this package will hopefully take away some of the financial uncertainty and allow individuals to focus on doing the best they can in their exams.
“To be eligible, individuals must have previously been employed in Scotland as a provisional registrant.
“The move is part of a wider range of support for pharmacy training at many levels, including extra support for pre-registration exams and guidance on the new Foundation Training year which is being introduced.”
Eighteen out of 191 candidates failed in the registration assessment in Scotland in March. However, the exact number of provisional registrants is not known.
