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Trainee pharmacists will continue to take the registration assessment online until at least 2029, a contract document from the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has said.
The pharmacy regulator published an invitation to tender on 5 August 2024, which sought “providers of high stakes online professional assessment examinations” to deliver the exam in test locations around the UK between January 2026 and December 2029.
The document says the provider of the £4m contract will need to deliver “a secure computer-based assessment to candidates on two single agreed dates in test locations distributed across the UK; a secure platform that manages exam questions in multiple formats; test booking services; candidate support services; invigilation services; proctoring services (as required); reporting services and other related services”.
The assessment was first held online at Pearson Vue test centres across Great Britain in March 2021, after being postponed from 2020 owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to this, the assessments were taken on paper.
In August 2021, the GPhC exclusively revealed to The Pharmaceutical Journal that it was intending to continue offering the tests online through to 2024, with BTL contracted to run the assessments.
However, the registration assessment has routinely encountered technical difficulties since the assessment went online.
In the July 2021 sitting, held at Pearson Vue centres, the GPhC said “several candidates” sitting the assessment remotely from home were unable to sit the exam, possibly owing to “internet connection issues”.
Following the first sitting provided by BTL in June 2022, the Pharmacists’ Defence Association reported that its members had informed it of “significant issues”, including “poor communication on the day, technical and equipment issues, and reasonable adjustments not being upheld”.
Candidates sitting the June 2024 assessment at the London Highbury test centre, sat part 2 of the assessment three hours later than planned “due to a major power cut affecting a large area of Highbury”, a statement from the GPhC said.
Data show that 2,776 candidates sat the GPhC and Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland exam around the UK in June 2024, resulting in an overall pass rate of 75% — the lowest in five years.
The new contract tender comes as the GPhC said it plans to have “approved a longer-term approach to the registration assessment” in 2024/2025 as part of its annual plan.
This will include commencing a consultation “on longer term proposals for registration assessment in readiness for June assessment in 2026”.
In a statement issued to The Pharmaceutical Journal, the GPhC said: “The registration assessment requires long-term planning and the current contract runs out in 2025.
“We are therefore undertaking a procurement process to provide certainty in relation to delivering the registration assessment while we consider the future of the assessment.”
In August 2024, the GPhC announced that it was considering a one-year route to registration for overseas qualified pharmacists, rather than the current two-year programme.
The regulator reiterated that all candidates would still need to pass the registration assessment.
