Fitness to practise

High Court throws out legal challenge over GPhC standards but PDA says ruling provides “welcome clarification”

The Pharmacists’ Defence Association (PDA) has lost its High Court challenge over changes to professional standards for pharmacists which it claimed threatened a pharmacist’s human rights.…

Pharmacy regulator appoints financial services expert as deputy chief executive

The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has appointed Megan Forbes as its deputy chief executive and director of operations, effective from 5 June 2017.…

Government is considering merging pharmacy regulator with others

The number of regulators of healthcare professionals may be slashed, with bodies merged into new organisations, the Department of Health has confirmed.…

Pharmacy regulator appoints new chair to its fitness-to-practise committee

A Queen’s Counsel with a background in international law has been appointed chair of the regulatory committee that decides whether pharmacists and pharmacy technicians are fit to practise.…

GPhC confirms changes to how it reviews pharmacists’ CPD records

Reforms that mean pharmacists will be randomly selected to provide a record of their continuing professional development by the General Pharmaceutical Council will be introduced in 2017, the regulator has confirmed.…

Threshold for investigating complaints against pharmacists to change

Proposed revised threshold criteria for determining whether complaints made about pharmacists and pharmacy technicians should be investigated have been published by the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) in a consultation document.  The criteria are being updated to take account of cha…

The people behind the biggest pharmacy stories of 2016

In our review of 2016, The Pharmaceutical Journal highlights the people behind the biggest pharmacy stories of the past 12 months. These are men and women who we considered to be the most strongly connected with the news stories that had the biggest impact on our readers.…

Pharmacists wanting to practise in the UK must prove English language skills

Pharmacists and pharmacy technicians who qualified in the European Economic Area or Switzerland who want to practise in the UK now have to prove they have the necessary knowledge of the English language before they can register with the relevant professional regulator.…

GPhC warns pharmacy owners to deliver safe services regardless of funding cuts

The British pharmacy regulator has stressed that pharmacy owners must continue to ensure they have enough qualified staff to provide safe services, despite funding cuts that are due to be implemented from 1 December 2016.…

British pharmacy regulator ticks all boxes on annual performance review for first time

The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has received a clean bill of health in its annual performance review from the oversight regulator, the Professional Standards Authority (PSA), for the first time. All standards were met by the regulator in the report for 2015–2016 and the review …