General Pharmaceutical Council
General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) guidance for pharmacist prescribers includes “a number of changes” from proposed guidance that was put out for consultation earlier this year.
The pharmacy regulator said the final guidance includes “further examples of prescribing in different settings and strengthening the guidance in relation to online prescribing of high-risk medicines”.
In a report on the consultation, published in September 2019, the GPhC said that many respondents found the guidance to be “too focused on community pharmacy” and asked how the guidance would apply to pharmacist prescribers in other settings.
The guidance is divided across five categories; including taking responsibility for prescribing safely, and working in partnership with other healthcare professionals and persons seeking care. It is intended to support the appropriate and effective provision of pharmaceutical care and medicines, and should be used alongside its standards for pharmacy professionals and standards for registered pharmacies, the GPhC said, also stating that “not following this guidance, or not taking the appropriate steps to ensure safe prescribing, could result in the registration of the pharmacist prescriber being at risk”.
“This new guidance comes at a time when we are seeing rapid growth in the number of pharmacist prescribers working across a variety of settings throughout Great Britain,” said Duncan Rudkin, chief executive of the GPhC, adding that the number of registered pharmacist prescribers has doubled since 2016.
Rudkin said the guidance “clearly outlines what [pharmacist prescribers] need to consider in order to provide safe and effective patient-centred care”, and also “sets out the responsibilities of organisations that employ pharmacist prescribers”.
