Shutterstock.com
The Department of Health and Social Care has put before parliament amendments to legislation that will allow the qualifications of pharmacists from the EU to be recognised in the UK in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
The Health and Care Professions (Qualifications and Entitlements) (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 will enable pharmacists who had registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) through the European Directive for Mutual Recognition of Profession Qualifications (MRPQ) before Brexit to retain their registration.
After Brexit takes place on 29 March 2019, the directive may no longer apply if the UK leaves the EU without a deal in place.
However, the draft legislation would also mean that pharmacists or pharmacy technicians who apply to join the GPhC register before the UK leaves the EU will continue to have their application processed after Brexit.
After the amendments are implemented, the new legislation will require the health and social care secretary to review “the recognition to be given to certain European qualifications after exit day” after two years.
The amendments come after the GPhC argued in November 2018 that pharmacists should not dispense prescriptions from the EU
, as the practitioners writing the prescriptions may no longer be qualified to do so in the UK after a no-deal Brexit.
The draft legislation is expected to be debated in Parliament in early 2019.
