General Pharmaceutical Council
Pharmacy owners could have 28 days to appoint a new superintendent pharmacist (SP), following the departure of a previous SP or a period of extended absence, the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has proposed.
The latest proposals were put forward in council papers published ahead of its meeting on 15 October 2026, which detail the outcome of the GPhC’s consultation on ‘Draft rules and standards for responsible pharmacists, and draft standards for superintendent pharmacists‘.
The consultation, which ran from 17 December 2025 to 25 March 2026, had initially proposed that if a SP leaves their role at short notice or is away from work for an extended period “succession and contingency planning needs to be in place to make sure a replacement SP can be immediately appointed”.
However, the results from the consultation showed that only 40% (n=12) of organisations agreed that it was reasonable to expect a new SP to be appointed immediately, with 43% (n=13) disagreeing. Some 81% of individuals who responded to the consultation agreed that it was reasonable.
The council papers said that respondents were supportive of the principle that pharmacy businesses should not operate without an active SP and that continuity was essential, but “views varied on how the requirement for ‘immediate’ appointment should be applied in practice”.
Many respondents preferred a “risk-based approach with clear thresholds (often around 28 days to three months) to trigger replacement, alongside formal recognition of interim roles, succession planning, and contingency arrangements including having a deputy in place,” the consultation report said.
“Having considered these practicalities, we propose to replace the term ‘immediately’ with ‘28 days’ as being a reasonable and proportionate timeframe for appointing a new superintendent pharmacist,” the council papers concluded.
The GPhC’s proposed rules and standards were put forward for consultation ahead of legislative changes to pharmacy supervision, under The Human Medicines (Authorisation by Pharmacists and Supervision by Pharmacy Technicians) Order 2025, which are due to come into effect on 10 December 2026.
In a statement published after the meeting on 16 October 2026, the GPhC said it would clarify the contingency arrangements around how quickly a new SP should be appointed in final standards. The GPhC did not provide a date for when the final approved standards would be published.
“The standards will then be kept under review, with further consideration of several issues, identified through the consultation, taking place next year,” the statement added.
Kathie Cashell, chief executive of the GPhC, commented: “[The new standards] are an important part of our work to strengthen pharmacy governance and support the implementation of new legislation.
“They provide greater clarity about roles, responsibilities and accountability, helping to ensure patients and the public continue to receive safe and effective pharmacy care as pharmacy practice continues to evolve.”
“At the Council meeting, our Council discussed the importance of making sure there were strong contingency arrangements in place if there is not a SP in post. We will now update the standards to reflect this important point before asking the Council to approve the final standards and rules,” she added.
In response to the consultation, some 57% (n=168) of respondents supported the idea of implementing additional minimum requirements to become an SP. However, further stakeholder engagement since then had found “no consensus on what these requirements should be,” the council papers said.
The papers noted that further work would be needed to explore this, adding that there would not be time to do this before the legislative changes come into effect in December 2026.
“Therefore, we will be returning to this topic after the publication of the standards,” the GPhC said.
