GPhC discontinues option of taking registration assessment remotely

The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has discontinued the provision of taking registration assessment remotely from this year.

The decision is based on feedback from previous candidates and the regulator’s “own experience of last year’s sittings”, it stated in council papers published ahead of its meeting on Thursday (February 10).

“We are clear that a test centre offers the best experience for candidates in terms of facilities and equipment, minimises the risk of technical failures which prevent candidates from completing the assessment,” it stated.

Last year, the GPhC had allowed a small number of overseas trainees to take the assessment remotely as they were stuck in different locations due to pandemic-related restrictions, the arrangement was “not desirable as a permanent innovation,” it said.

Further, it expected that the majority of candidates would be in the UK as the June assessment takes place at the end of their training year.

It also informed that those required to self-isolate or prevented from travelling to

the UK due to Covid-related travel restrictions, would not be able to sit the assessment.

The regulator said it would “welcome a steer from Council” on whether to pursue a contingency for remote sittings in these very specific and limited circumstances.

It noted that the assessment will be delivered online though BTL’s secure Test Centre Network through their platform, Surpass.

Last month, the GPhC appointed a new provider, BTL Group Ltd, to conduct its common registration assessment sittings.

The network has enough capacity within the network for all eligible candidates and each assessment would be conducted over one day.