General Pharmaceutical Council
Preregistration pharmacy tutors need to be held to account to ensure that pharmacist trainees meet required performance standards, according to delegates who attended a round table event organised by the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC).
Representatives from the GPhC, Health Education England, the Pharmacy Schools Council, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, the British Pharmaceutical Students Association and community pharmacy employers agreed at the event on 3 February 2016 that preregistration pharmacist training in England is not working as well as it should. They also concluded that there is variation in the quality of trainees’ experiences and in performance in the assessment that needs to be passed in order to join the professional register.
The delegates said they want to find out whether there is a link between A-level grades achieved by a preregistration pharmacist and the chances of them passing the assessment papers. They also agreed that the pharmacy profession should look at how other healthcare professions manage their training year and whether any lessons can be learnt from them. It was decided that it is important for organisations to work together around the sign off of assessments by tutors during the training year to ensure that students are meeting the standard required.
A report summarising the discussions, published on 26 February 2016 by the GPhC, says it will “take forward the actions” identified at the round table.
