The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has announced that provisional registration of pre-reg pharmacists will begin in August.
In an email sent to pre-reg trainees on Monday (27), GPhC chief executive Duncan Rudkin wrote that the regulator “would propose that time spent provisionally registered would count towards the two years of practice needed to become an independent prescriber and towards any Foundation training that provisionally-registered pharmacists may undertake.”
The letter acknowledged that trainees who entered on the register “would need structured support to manage the transition into practice as a pharmacist” and stated that the regulator would be working with “with partners on what that would involve and what requirements would need to be in place.”
It added that the GPhC was “investigating learning and experience from other healthcare training schemes and university assessments which have been recently adapted as part of this work.”
Rudkin wrote that the regulator would “work closely with our partners” to develop proposals, including “determining the criteria and process to become provisionally registered, and the structured support and requirements that trainees will need to have in place to practise safely.”
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society had earlier asked the regulator to fast-track the registration as well as their contributions to be acknowledged as part of their career development.
Responding to the latest update, RPS Director of Education and Professional Development Gail Fleming said: “This letter from the GPhC is important as is the need to develop a model for both the assessment and provisional registration quickly. The proposal for structured support is welcomed.”
