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The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has launched its strategic plan for 2025–2030, outlining priorities to strengthen public trust, regulatory performance and support for the pharmacy profession.
In a statement published on 18 June 2025, the GPhC said that the five-year plan, which launched at a parliamentary event on the same day, sets out how the GPhC intends to maintain safety, quality and public trust in pharmacy, and “build on the progress that has already been made, by focusing on three strategic aims”.
These aims include:
- Empowering pharmacists and pharmacy technicians to provide trusted, safe and effective pharmacy care;
- Protecting those using pharmacy services by working collaboratively with healthcare regulators and other organisations; and
- Building a skilled, agile and inclusive organisation to carry out the GPhC’s regulatory responsibilities.
In the plan, the GPhC acknowledged that “improvements are needed” in its own performance, particularly in how it is perceived by the profession.
“We […] understand that we are often perceived as adversarial,” it said, adding that “with too many pharmacists and pharmacy technicians seeing the regulator as a body that is there just to charge them fees and punish them if they fail”.
To meet its goals, the plan said that the GPhC needs to address “key challenges,” including improving its fitness-to-practise (FtP) processes, streamlining investigations and ensuring financial sustainability.
It also highlights greater use of digital tools, including responsible use of artificial intelligence.
In the plan, the GPhC said: “These developments will help us streamline regulatory processes, improve efficiency and enhance the quality of our decision-making.
“In doing so, we aim to deliver more responsive and cost-effective regulation that supports better outcomes for the public and pharmacy professionals alike.”
Speaking at the parliamentary event, Duncan Rudkin, chief executive of the GPhC, said a delivery plan outlining how the strategy will be implemented is expected “shortly”.
Rudkin noted that the regulator is committed to reducing the backlog in its FtP cases and the length of time it takes for cases to be resolved.
“We are seeing positive and sustainable improvements in productivity and timeliness for dealing with cases,” he added.
In September 2024, the GPhC was failed by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA) on its timeliness standards for FtP cases for the sixth year in a row.
At the time, the PSA acknowledged that there had been a “30% year-on-year increase in FtP referrals received [by the GPhC] since 2022” and that the regulator had put measures in place to tackle the backlog in cases.
However, the PSA said that “the increase in referrals has predominantly involved low-level service complaints from members of the public, which do not constitute concerns about FtP”.
Also speaking at the event, pharmacy minister Stephen Kinnock reiterated the government’s ambition to “make better use” of pharmacists’ skills, particularly as more become independent prescribers.
“Pharmacy technicians, too, will have an enhanced role,” he said, adding that “the GPhC is shortly to commence a consultation on their education and training standards to ensure that they too have the skills that they need for the future”.
Legislation came into effect in June 2024 to allow pharmacy technicians to administer and supply specified medicines under patient group directions.
