Regula+e Issue 1

8/3/2019 Regula+e Issue 1

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September 2011 | Issue 01

Upholding standards andpublic trust in pharmacy

www.pharmacyregulaon.org

Inside

Under the microscope:renewals 06

Interview:Duncan Rudkin 14

FtP determinationsand learning 22


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Welcome fromthe chairWelcome to the first issue of Regula+e,

the General Pharmaceucal Councils

bullen for all registrants which we

intend to publish every two months.

As you know, there has been a great deal

of change over the last year, and some of

that is reflected in the arcles that I hopeyou will find me to read. While the GPhC

has been established by parliament to

ensure the safety of paents and the

promoon of quality services to the

public, it can only succeed in this role

with buy-in from its registrants.

Regula+e is designed to provide all

registrants with important and useful

informaon about the regulaon of the

profession and your responsibilies as a

regulated professional.

Whether you are a pharmacist, a

pharmacy technician, or you own premises,

our intenon is to provide you with what

you need to know in a nutshell,

informaon which will help you keep

paents safe and provide effecve care,

whatever field of pharmacy you work in.

This first issue focuses on the importanceof renewing your registraon; being on

the register is an important safeguard on

which safe and effecve regulaon

depends. There are also arcles on

connuing professional development

(CPD) and fitness to pracse (FtP),

reminding us that the declaraons you

sign at the point of registraon or

renewal are not merely boxes to ck

they are fundamental to your day-to-day

working lives and to our assurances to

the public about your fitness to pracse,which your connuing registraon

represents.

Regula+e forms part of a wider dialogue

between the GPhC and registrants: what

are we doing well? What can we do

beer and what do you want to see

more of? Or less? Feedback to us is

always important. Let us know what you

think.

The public places a lot of trust in you

and so do we. We hope you enjoyreading Regula+e and we look forward

to hearing from you.

Bob Nicholls

Chair

2 Regula+e: September 2011 | Issue 01

Regula+e is the registrant bullen of the

General Pharmaceucal Council.

It is sent to all registrants (at the me of

posng) and pre-registraon trainees. At

mes we may approach external

organisaons or individuals to submit an

arcle or opinion on a topical issue. All

arcles and leers commissioned, wrien

or submied are subject to editorial control

and may not be printed in full or with

reference back to source.

If you would like to contact the editor or

submit a leer or comment to Regula+e

please contact us at:

[email protected]

The Editor, Regula+e

General Pharmaceucal Council

129 Lambeth Road | London | SE1 7BT

General Pharmaceucal Council 2011

Welcome from the chair 2

A message from the chiefexecutive and registrar 3

Pharmacists update 4

Pharmacy technician update 5

Renewal 6

Standards 8

News in brief 9Letters 10

Customer service 12

Three countries 13

Interview with registrar 14

Continuing ProfessionalDevelopment 16

Education and training 18

GPhC 20

Fitness to practice -legacy cases 21

Fitness to practice -determinations 22

Fitness to practice - learning 23

Contents


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A messagefrom the chiefexecutive andregistrarOur job is to uphold the standards of,

and public trust in, pharmacy. The

register a publicly available onlinesystem informing employers and the

general public about who is fit to

pracse is a good place to start.

Going live with our regulatory

responsibilies has not been without its

challenges and there has been much to

learn. What we have done over our first

year includes:

Distribung up-to-date General

Pharmaceucal Council standards

to registrants Implemenng a new renewal

metable and process for all of you

who were previously registered with

the Royal Pharmaceucal Society of

Great Britain

Beginning the roll-out of the new

renewals registraon system for those

who have registered directly with the

GPhC since September last year

Introducing new connuing

professional development rules

Meeng, listening to and speakingwith many registrants and their

leaders and representaves in

England, Scotland and Wales,

providing us with much-needed

informaon about a range of topics.

These conversaons are feeding

directly into our ongoing work to

design a new model for pharmacy

premises regulaon

Much of what we have done over

the 12 months since we became

operaonal has been about pung in

place the essenal building blocks to

underpin more efficient and effecve

regulaon which is not code for

more regulaon.

We carried out a major communicaons

drive to ensure that all those with

the opon of applying for pharmacytechnician registraon had the

informaon they needed before the

start of compulsory registraon.

We are now working through the much-

larger than expected final wave of

applicaons which this campaign

brought in.

When it comes to fitness to pracse,

we are clearing the legacy cases we

inherited from the RPSGB and we are

learning lessons. We have put solid

foundaons in place, including a new

customer contact centre. And we

will provide you with greater value as

me goes on.

And so to Regula+e. We know that its

not enough for us to be accessible

through email and phone. We have an

obligaon to reach out too and this will

be one of a number of addional ways

we will do so. This regular publicaon is

not about promong our existence and

work it will focus on regulatory

informaon you need to know.

Regula+e is your publicaon. We wantto encourage your feedback on areas

and topics that you would like to see

covered in future issues, and to

contribute and share your learning with

other pharmacy professionals by wring

to our leers page.

Duncan Rudkin

Chief execuve and registrar

Upholding standards and public trust in pharmacy 3

Bob Nicholls (le) and Duncan Rudkin (right)


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The newface ofregulaon

Our remit is to protect, promote andmaintain the health, safety and

wellbeing of paents and the public,

and we aim to do that in a way that is

less, not more burdensome. And so we

have been further developing our

thinking about what proporonate

regulaon means in pharmacy. We are

keen to hear your views as we move

forward with this work.

Our aim is to provide a service to

registrants that supports you in your

everyday work to provide safe and

effecve care. Iniaves like this new

bullen ensure you are kept up to date

with regulatory informaon, and our

dedicated customer contact centre

means we can answer your quesons

quickly and effecvely.

As we are a new regulator, we have

introduced some concrete changes.

These include a rolling register with a

fixed period of registraon whether

you work as a registrant in communitypharmacies, hospitals, the

pharmaceucal industry or other areas

such as primary care trusts, universies

or pharmacy organisaons, rolling

registraon is a new concept.

The new renewals system requires that

you register two months prior to your

renewal date, which will be a year from

your inial registraon or your exisng

renewal date if you have been on the

register prior to September 2010.

See Duncans interview, p14

A me for renewal, p6

Spelling it outin EuropeThe way pharmacy professionals

from elsewhere in the European

Union become eligible for

registraon to work in the UK has

come under scruny as parliament

seeks advice from regulators on key

issues of concern. Migraon has a

direct bearing on the way that we

carry out our dues. Legislaon

does not currently permit us to test

the English language skills of

European naonals applying for

registraon in Great Britain; an

issue which has clear implicaons

for communicaon with paents

and for public safety.

As registrar, Duncan Rudkin gave

evidence to the House of Lords

EU sub-commiee on SocialPolicies and Consumer Protecon

in June, and presented our key

areas of concern:

All European regulators must

have a legal duty to share

fitness to pracse informaon

proacvely

There needs to be greater clarity

in legislaon about when

regulators, such as the GPhC, can

test the language competence of

European Economic Area

professionals wishing to register

and work in Great Britain

Pharmacists and pharmacy

technicians returning to work

aer a break must be up to date

with current pracce

Duncan told the sub-commiee,

One of the things that we would

want to see encouraged and

facilitated more effecvely is

greater sharing of informaonbetween competent authories

about FtP issues.

Pharmacist update


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How things arechanging

If you were previously registered with

the RPSGB but do not apply for

registraon by 26 September 2012,

despite your experience and

qualificaons, you may need to complete

addional educaon and training.

Please note that, if you applied aer

1 July 2011, you will not be able to

work unl you are registered. If you

applied under the transional

arrangements, you can connue

pracsing unl your registraon

applicaon has been processed.

Those who have recently qualified and

who applied under the new

arrangements (but have only worked

as a pre-registraon trainee pharmacy

technician) have had their applicaonspriorised as they cannot work unl

they have a registraon number. It is

also important to note that you must

apply for registraon within five

calendar years of starng on a

recognised course or within two years

of compleng the last recognised

course, whichever is sooner.

A pharmacist who employs or manages

a member of staff to undertake the

roles and responsibilies of a

pharmacy technician, but who is

unregistered, may be liable to fitness

to pracse proceedings and possible

removal from the register.


Joining theregister

1 July 2011 was a red leer day for

pharmacy technicians in Great Britain:

for the first me they joined the 1.2

million registered health professionals

working across the UK. For paents it is

perhaps even more significant. Knowing

that a pharmacy technician is registered

with the addional assurance this

involves increases the confidence they

can have in the service provided and in

pharmacy itself. The fact that pharmacy

technicians did not have to register

previously does not, of course, mean

that they were a higher risk individually.

But the public will now be secure in the

knowledge that pharmacy technicians have

sasfied our registraon requirementsand are subject to naonal standards.

Paents can therefore expect the same

high standards of conduct, ethics and

performance and accountability as

they do from pharmacists.

We gave applicants a two-year

window to voluntarily register with

us based on experience and a pre-

exisng qualificaon, known as

grandparenng.

In addion to these grandparenngarrangements, in June we also slightly

modified the process for pre-registraon

trainee pharmacy technicians to allow

them to apply for registraon four weeks

before the end of training. We did this in

response to feedback from the profession.

This requirement for compulsory

registraon meant we received around

20,500 applicants before this summersdeadline. While that has created a

challenge in terms of processing

applicaons, it is a happy problem to

have. We are sll processing some of

these and this may take a few more

months.

Pharmacy technicians play a key role in

the way that the pharmacy profession

interacts with and serves the public.

Like the renewal process itself, pung

pharmacy technicians on the register

is a way of saying to paents and the

public, we are competent, fit to pracse

and highly trained. It announces that

you are working to agreed codes of

conduct and ethics, your training is

up to date and rigorous, and paent

safety is your number one concern.

Pharmacy technician update


6/26


You will have seen a great deal aboutrenewals recently. We make no apology

for that. The first rolling renewal

process has started and we want to help

you understand and use this process to

secure your registraon.

The key fact to remember is that you

need to complete your renewal at least

two months before the date of your

previous renewal.

If you registered aer 27 September

2010, this will be the anniversary ofwhen you joined the register.

If you were on the register prior to

27 September 2010 and transferred

from the RPSGB, your renewal date

will remain the same. But you will also

have to comply with the minimum two

month deadline.

This is an important development in

pharmacy registraon, says GPhC chief

execuve, Duncan Rudkin. For the first

me, renewals will be in line with inialregistraon, making it clear for people

and businesses to know when they are

due to renew and for what period.

The changes affect everybody. Ownersand superintendents will receive

reminders on a monthly basis, which

means you could be sent a number of

reminders over the course of the year

but although you will have to renew

registraons throughout the year, you

will only need to make one declaraon

to cover all registered premises for the

next year.

Renewals are a simple enough process

you are sent a renewal noce and must

renew online using myGPhCor by an

automated telephone service (unless

you are an owner of premises, in which

case you need to fill in the renewal form

and return it by post).

While it might be tempng to think that

renewal is simply about paying a fee, it

is more fundamental than that. Renewal

is the foundaon on which paent

safety sits.

Renewals include compleng your fitness

to pracse declaraons and your renewal

declaraon confirming that you adhere to

our standards and that you have done,

and will connue to keep up to date with

your CPD, explains Terry Orford, head of

customer services. Renewal is not just

about paying.

A meforrenewal

The success of

the new rollingregister dependson how yourespond to thedeadlines

Renewal


7/26

Renewal: what you need to know

Registrants need to complete their renewal at least two months

before their expiry date.

New registrants (those who joined aer September 2010)

expiry date will be the anniversary of when they joined the

register. The expiry date for registrants who transferred from the

RPSGB register is sll 31 December.

We will be mailing premises renewal noces on a monthly

basis. Premises owners may receive renewal noces throughout

the year.

We are encouraging registrants to provide their email address

if they havent already done so. Registrants who have provided

email addresses are asked to check their email address

on myGPhC.

Renewal encompasses the compleon of fitness to pracse and

renewal declaraons as well as paying the fee.

Registrants can only renew using an online (MyGPhC) or

automated telephone service.

The CPD and FtP declaraons thatregistrants are required to make are

not simply box-cking exercises. They

are the chance for you to restate your

professionalism. We are also

encouraging everyone to provide their

email address, if they havent already

done so, and registrants are asked to

check their details on myGPhC.

Above all, please read the informaon

we send out.

You would be surprised how manyregistrants dont read it

and either miss their deadline or do

not renew properly, says Terry.

Those who do not renew in me will

be removed from the register this

means that they will not be able to

pracse unl they make an applicaon

for restoraon.

Its straighorward enough to

renew but we have had to remove

some registrants because they didntmeet their deadlines, warns Terry.

There are no excuses. And the

restoraon fee for those who have

been removed is considerably more

expensive than renewing correctly

in the first place.

Renewal

For more informaon, look at our website www.pharmacyregulaon.org

Rolling register:

what you need to know

You enter the register either on the first or fieenth of the

month of joining Registered for a period of one year

Registraon expires on the day before the anniversary of the

first entry



8/26


Under the Pharmacy Order 2010, we are

bound to set standards that ensure the

safe, effecve pracce of pharmacy, and

to set the educaon and training

standards which underpin the

profession.

The standards we set are an integral part

of the risk-based, proporonate way in

which we regulate. We want to make

sure the standards focus primarily on

outcomes rather than processes, and

that they do not stop you from being

innovave and autonomous in your

day-to-day pracce.

Our standards for conduct, ethics,

performance and connuing

professional development have been

sent to all pharmacy professionals and

all are published on our website.

A key element in our standards work isthat although they are outcomes

focused, we want them to be

meaningful to registrants: we therefore

look to make clear how they apply in

everyday pracce. A key area of work

going forward will be idenfying how we

can build on the standards and any

supplementary guidance we publish.

Although our core standards are

designed to be applicable to all areas of

pracce, there may be some areas

where addional guidance or

informaon is necessary to underpin

them. To date, we have guidance

covering a range of areas, from the

provision of pharmacy services affected

by religious moral beliefs, to responses

to complaints and concerns. We know

there are more areas to cover and as

part of our ongoing efforts we expect to

be consulng and engaging on four more

guidance documents in the near future

so we can find out how best to ensure

these clarify complex issues for you in

your pracce. These are:

Paent confidenality: the guidance

will explain your duty, what we advise

in relaon to protecng confidenal

informaon, and advice about

disclosure of informaon.

Obtaining consent: we explain what

consent is, the types of consent

there are and how to obtain it. The

guidance also provides informaonabout capacity to make decisions

and the difference between children

and adults.

Professional boundaries: gives

guidance to pharmacy professionals

on the importance of maintaining

proper professional boundaries and

explains your responsibilies.

Raising concerns: looks at the

importance of voicing concerns and

the steps a pharmacy professionalshould take. This also includes

guidance for employers.

The first four documents expandon standards within conduct, ethics

and performance.

We know there may be more than

one way to meet our standards and

you may adopt alternave methods

to do this. We expect you to exercise

your professional judgment in your

day-to-day pracce to safeguard the

care of paents. We connue to work

closely with professional organisaons

such as the RPS and the Naonal

Pharmacy Associaon to ensure that

when we publish standards, other

bodies who may wish to provide

support and advice to their membership

are in a posion to do so.

We also want your feedback: standards

must be relevant to the mes and we

are looking for areas where new

legislaon and evolving pracce mean

we need to tweak or update what we

say, or where more support for

registrants is required.

Standards

RaisingthestandardEnsuring thesafe, effectivepractice of all

pharmacyprofessionals isamong our keyresponsibilities.Central to this isthe publicationof standardsand guidance and more ison the way.

Standards:

what you need

to know

We currently publish standards for:

conduct, ethics and performance owners and superintendent

pharmacists of retail pharmacy

businesses (interim)

connuing professional

development (CPD)

inial educaon and training for

pharmacists and pharmacy

technicians


9/26


Meeng our own languageresponsibilies

As required by law, and to improve

access to our work and pharmacy

services for Welsh paents and the

public, we have developed and

consulted on a Welsh language scheme.

We adopted the principle that in the

conduct of public business in Wales,

we will treat the English and Welsh

languages as equal. The scheme sets

out how we will give effect to thatprinciple when providing services to

the public in Wales.

Seasonal flu immunisaon

programme

Winter is coming, bringing with it the flu

virus. And, as usual, local health

providers are encouraging those most at

risk to take up the offer of a flu

vaccinaon.

Frontline health professionals,like you, should also take up the

vaccinaon offer. Being vaccinated will

reduce the risk of passing on the virus to

paents, public and the people you

interact with in your day-to-day work.

Public safety is our main concern

and we would be remiss if we didnt

remind all registrants that they can

take up the vaccinaon offer and so not

only protect yourself, but your family

and paents as well.

It is also about making sure that you

understand the repercussions

of having the flu if you are in a

clinical risk group and the facts about

the vaccinaon so you can provide

the choice of vaccinaon to your

paent groups.

Raising concernsWe welcome the House of Commons

Health Select Commiee July report

which highlighted the need for health

professionals to raise concerns about

their own pracse or that of other

professionals. We are commied to

ensuring that registrants understand the

importance of this in relaon to safe and

appropriate care of paents and the

public. Our own standards require

registrants to commit to this, through

standards 6.9 (self-reporng) and 7.11

(raising concerns not just about fellow

registrants but about wider healthcare

professionals).

Geng out and about

The GPhC is commied to being open and

transparent, and we want you to have

opportunies to have your say on the way

we regulate the profession by offering us

your thoughts. As well as contacng us by

phone or email, you are welcome to aend

our council meengs, which take place

every other month. You can check our

website for details of the dates and

mes of those meengs. We will also be

a visible presence at trade shows, special

events and conferences throughout the

year. Next month we will be at the

Pharmacy Show, at the Birmingham NEC

on 9-10 October and we encourage you

to visit our stand and talk to us.

Sale of contact lensesThe General Opcal Council (GOC) has

advised us they are commied to

idenfying and pursuing illegal sales of

cosmec contact lenses in the wider

context. Cosmec contact lenses, also

known as zero-powered or plano lenses,

are used to change the colour or

appearance of the eyes. Zero-powered

lenses can be supplied only by, or under

the supervision of a registered

optometrist, dispensing opcian or

medical praconer. Supervision

requires the registered person to be

present on the premises, aware of the

procedure and in a posion to intervene

if necessary. The seller/supplier must

also make arrangements for the wearer

to receive ongoing care. Pharmacists are

reminded that they must not sell

cosmec contact lenses unless they can

comply with these requirements.

News in brief

Here are the conferences we are

aending over the next two months

why not take the opportunity to visit

our stand and talk to us. We will also

let you know what presentaons,

seminars and tutorials we will be

aending.

Conferences: Pharmacy Show: 9-10 October,

Birmingham

Pre-registraon dates:

Deadline for receipt of entries for

the summer examinaon:

Friday, 18 May 2012

Summer registraon examinaon:

Friday, 29 June 2012

Deadline for receipt of entries for

the autumn examinaon:

Friday, 17 August 2012 Autumn registraon examinaon:

Friday, 28 September 2012

Events and updates


10/26


Dear editor,

I wish to renew my registraon for

another year. But I wish to set up a

direct debit and when I ring the number

on your renewal leer there is no

opon for this!! How I do that?

Also, are there extra fees?

Zacharias P

In order to set up a direct debit with us

you will need to complete a direct

debit form which can be found on our

website. It is important that you submit

this before aempng to renew your

registraon. Usually it will take 48 hours

from receipt of your direct debit form

before our systems are updated.

If you try to make your renewals before

the direct debit has been processed by

us, the automated system will insist that

you provide either credit or debit card

details. Unfortunately there is a charge

to use your credit card.

There are two opons on the form for

those wishing to pay by direct debit

there is the opon to pay a single lump

sum of 267 as per your renewal leer,

or in quarterly instalments of 66.75.

The charge for using the direct debit

service is an extra 15 (if you pay in

quarterly instalments this will be taken

with your first payment) to cover the

extra administraon costs involved withproviding the direct debit service.

Dear editor,

I have just received my registraon

renewal noce by post and was just

wondering why the fees need to be paid

so far in advance?

I am also concerned that if I am paying

three months in advance, will this mean

that I am effecvely registering early

and as such losing out on three months

of next years registraon?

As a single mother with a mortgage Im

sure you can understand every penny

counts in my household, which is why

I would like some further clarificaon

before I set up a new direct debit!

Thank you in advance for your me,

Monica B

The renewals process is based upon the

regulaons specified in our RegistraonRules 2010, which state that all

registrants must renew a minimum of

two months prior to their expiry date. As

this is set in legislaon, there is no

flexibility with these melines.

The addional month is designed to give

registrants enough lead in me to make

their declaraons, and also to ensure

that they have sufficient funds in place

to make their renewal.

You can be assured that your renewalfee covers you for the full 12 months

from the expiry date stated on your

leer, regardless of how early it is paid.

Every issue willfeature yourletters. In thisfirst issue wehave publisheda number ofenquires wehave receivedthrough ourcustomercontact centre,rather thandirectly toRegula+e.

Letters


11/26

Dear editor,

Thank you for informing me that my

applicaon for registraon as a

pharmacy technician will not be

processed, I understand that it was

unfortunate that my applicaon was

not received in me to be processed.

I have looked at the link which you

set out in the leer, but unfortunately

I dont understand which further

courses I must undertake before my

applicaon can be processed again.

Therefore I would be extremely grateful

if you could inform me of what

qualificaon I should aain.

Yours faithfully

Hailey S

Following the end of the grandparenng

arrangements on 30 June 2011, in order

to apply for registraon as a pharmacytechnician you must hold one of the

following approved competency-based

qualificaons:

Pharmacy Services NVQ level 3 (City &

Guilds qualificaon code 100/2201/6)

Pharmacy Services NVQ level 3

(Edexcel qualificaon code

100/2615/0)

Pharmacy Services SVQ level 3

(Scosh Qualificaons Authority

qualificaon code G75923)and

One of the following approved

knowledge based qualificaons

Edexcel BTEC Naonal Cerficatein Pharmacy Services (qualificaon

code 500/1138/8)

City & Guilds Level 3 Cerficate

in Pharmacy Services (qualificaon

code 100/5845/X)

SQA Naonal Cerficate

in Pharmacy Services

(qualificaon code G753 04)

plus successful compleon of

addional SQA modules Building

Blocks Chemistry and Local

Invesgaons Buercups Training level 3

underpinning knowledge

programme

Naonal Pharmacy Associaon

level 3 underpinning knowledge

programme

and

meet the qualifying period of

work experience

You need to provide evidence of

having completed a minimum of two

years relevant work-based experience in

the UK under the supervision, direcon

or guidance of a pharmacist to whom

you have been directly accountable for

not less than 14 hours per week. (Please

see secon 7 of the GPhC criteria for

inial registraon as a pharmacy

technician).

During these two years, you must have

completed at least 1260 hours of work

experience (excluding sickness absence,

maternity leave and holidays) and atleast 315 hours of work experience in

each year.


All leers are subject to editorial control and may be reproduced in summary without reference back to source. If we receive a leer that theeditor feels needs a response or is clearly an issue of learning for the wider profession we may respond in this leers secon. Not all leers

received will be published and we will not publish leers that are personally crical of individuals in opinion or comment.

Letters


12/26


While it is true that vising the GPhCs

website is normally the best way to get

answers quickly and simply, there will be

mes when you need to speak to

someone, and this is where the customer

contact centre comes in.

Set up in March, it has five staff who

handle an average of 400 calls and 60

emails every day.

So what changes will registrants see now

in the way that their calls are handled?

Your me is valuable you should

noce, firstly, that you can get through,

and get through quickly, says contact

centre manager, David Taylor. We have

made good progress in meeng our

service standards, but we know there is

more to do, parcularly during peak

mes when it can sll be difficult to get

your calls answered quickly.

The centres aim is to provide an effecveand efficient telephone service and to

ensure our advice and guidance is up to

date, accurate and complete. Somemes

its necessary for us to speak to colleagues

about parcular enquiries and then

call you back.

However, we have noced that the

volume of engagement with the contact

centre depends on whats happening in

the academic cycle. Were adding to our

knowledge database all the me, David

goes on. We get a host of enquiries

around geng hold of training material

or paying fees, then as we go towards

exams there are a lot of queries around

geng to exams, and results, resits

and so on.

Other spikes in calls have come in the

areas you would expect, such as around

the July deadline for the registraon of

pharmacy technicians. From the

beginning of May to the end of June we

were geng 450-500 calls a day, recallsDavid. And 600 calls a day towards

the end.

CPD also throws up a ra of issues for

the contact centre. Many of these are

praccal things, such as logins or passwords

or what informaon registrants have to

send in, explains David.

The contact centre staff are customer

service specialists, not pharmacists,

which means they will not give advice on

pharmacy queries (an area insteadhandled by our standards adivsory

team). David explains: We should be

able to handle at least 80 per cent of calls

without passing them on. In reality, we

are exceeding this figure, with over 90

per cent of calls answered by the contact

centre.

While it is important that registrants

receive a prompt, mely response to

their phone queries, the contact centre

does more than this: through the carefulmanagement of calls, it has an important

role to play in the process of regulaon

itself in that it can take pressure off

other teams in dealing with enquiries.

It can also idenfy trends that may helpin improving our systems and processes,

or idenfying areas of potenal risk and

concern within pharmacy.

In the majority of cases, vising our

website is sll the best way to get the

informaon you need quickly and simply.

We use the data collected by the contact

centre to develop generic frequently

asked quesons (FAQs) which you can

find on the website. These FAQs can help

to answer enquiries without you havingto contact us directly. The FAQs are

reviewed regularly to ensure they remain

accurate and current.

Over the last

couple ofmonths, anyonepicking up aphone to contactus will havenoticed a majordifference in howtheir enquiry is

dealt with

Customer Contact

Centre: what you

need to know

Open Monday to Friday

9am 5pm

Try to have your applicaon or

registraon number to hand, as

well as any other relevant

documents to speed things up

We aim to answer at least 80%

of calls within 20 seconds

For email enquiries, we try to

give a substanve reply to at

least 90 per cent within 48 hours

www.pharmacyregulaton.org

Ringingthechanges

Customer service


13/26


In our responsibility for regulangpharmacy across Great Britain,

devoluon is an important reality

and there are parcular challenges

for an organisaon like ours to ensure

we regulate in a way which reflects

this reality.

Firstly, registrants should find that our

standards and any guidance we publish is

consistent, and keeps pace with, changes

in local legislaon and certainly in the

delivery of local health services.

Our standards also need to reflect

the realies of different legislaon

in the three countries, for example,

in relaon to protecon of vulnerable

groups where the responsibilies of

pharmacy professionals and employers

may be different across Great Britain.

We also have a responsibility to consider

the impact on regulaon of any changes

in the delivery of pharmacy services,

such as, through changes to the

pharmacy contract.

Another crical issue is for us to reflect

our commitment to engagement across

Great Britain of all our key interest

groups, including paents and the public,

as well as members of the pharmacy

professions and their employers, in the

development of our standards and

policies. We recognise that holding one

major consultaon event in London will

not suffice. We are commied to

ensuring all registrants will have anopportunity to meet with us to discuss

our work and the development of our

standards, no maer where you live in

Great Britain.

Finally, and perhaps, the most important

implicaon of devoluon, is that to

contribute to maintaining paent safety,

we must understand the health

regulatory and law enforcement agencies

across England, Scotland and Wales and

ensure we are sharing informaon

appropriately to uphold standards, avoid

regulatory duplicaon or burden, and to

protect paents.

New director for ScotlandThe GPhC is delighted that Lynsey

Cleland has been appointed as director

for Scotland. Lynsey registered as a

pharmacist in 2000 and worked as a

community pharmacist before becoming

a pharmacist adviser and then head of

professional ethics at the RPSGB. From

September 2008, she was the northern

regional lead inspector, scheduling and

delivering an inspecon and monitoring

programme for a porolio of registered

pharmacies in Scotland.

In her new role, Lynseys focus will be

ensuring the way in which we regulate in

Scotland reflects the local context, as

well as leading all our engagement work

in Scotland including pharmacy

professions, paents and the public,

Scosh parliamentarians and

government officials.

Director for Wales

We are currently recruing a director for

Wales. For further details visit our website.

Making thedifference

Three countries

As regulatorwe mustreflect the

differenceswhich registrantsface in England,Scotlandand Wales

Lynsey Cleland, new director for Scotland


14/26


As the first chief execuveand registrar of the GPhC Duncan

has led the organisaon through

establishment and its first full

year of operaons.

How do you think registrants

perceive the GPhC? Do you

think youve made a good first

impression?The reality is for many registrants they

will have very lile direct contact with

the regulator outside of renewal noces.

Part of the purpose of Regula+e is to

ensure that we keep all registrants up to

date with issues that affect them and to

enable us to have a more interacve

relaonship with them. Fitness to

pracse is only a small part of our role

and we need to encourage greater

involvement of the profession in shaping

policies, from educaon to newstandards and guidance. I think weve

made a good start, but registrants will

naturally say that the proof of the

pudding will be in the eang!

What kind of regulatoris the GPhC?

Last year, our governing council set

out our vision and values as a regulator.

This included some strong words about

proporonality, being risk-based and

embracing the principles of good

regulaon. It is sll early days, but

there are some clear examples that

demonstrate we have taken some

praccal steps to deliver this vision

not least through the way in which wehave handled the legacy of FtP cases

from the RPSGB.

What would you see as the

biggest successes of the GPhCs

first year of operaon?

Undoubtedly the approach to, and

implementaon of, our just disposal of

legacy cases has been successful.

Introducing a whole new registraonsystem has been very challenging but the

first major renewals peak in January

appeared to go well with over 98%

renewing. However, the most notable

change to pharmacy regulaon this year

has probably been the introducon of

compulsory registraon of pharmacy

technicians.

You have received a lot

more applicaons than

predicted. Has that createdany problems?

Independent esmates had suggested

about 14,500 technicians might register.

Once we have processed all the

applicaons, over 20,000 technicians

will be on the register. This is a testament

to all those pharmacy technicians

who wish to contribute to pharmacy as

part of a regulated profession with all

the requirements and opportunies

that brings.

Buildingfor thefuture

As the GPhC

reaches its firstbirthday, thereare still questionsin the air.How willFtP work now?What isproportionate

regulation?And where dowe need to makeprogress?Regula+e talksto chief executiveDuncan Rudkin.

Interview


15/26


Have you encountered anyproblems that you didnt know

existed when you started up?

Of course, but it would have been a

surprise if things hadnt cropped up:

the size of the caseload has been a

big challenge, which it is in all the

health professions, by the way.

However, we have to be focused on

the future, not worrying about what

happened in the past.

How do you think pharmacy

is going to change, and will

divergence in pracce across

Great Britain have an impact?

I am sll learning about pharmacy but

its already clear to me that there will be

changes, including big changes in the

role of pharmacists and pharmacy

technicians. Our core approach, for

example, in standards development is

that we need to ensure what we do in

regulaon is not just fit for today or

tomorrow, but is proofed against future

changes. This applies equally to how we

react to the divergent health structures

across Great Britain and how we work

with colleagues in Northern Ireland.

Regulaon must be appropriate to the

local context and we must ensure that

we understand how pharmacy is

delivered locally and how we can avoidregulatory duplicaon and overlap

with regulatory bodies based in Scotland

and Wales.

Where does the GPhC most

need to make progress in the

next 12 months?

Weve done much to establish ourselves

and ensure a smooth transfer from the

RPSGB, but if anything the next year is

likely to be busier than the first. We will

be taking forward how we intend to

regulate pharmacy premises, which will

involve widespread engagement with the

profession, and we will be producing a

range of regulatory guidance to underpin

our standards in areas such as seeking

consent and confidenality. A key

priority in operaonal terms will be to

complete our work on legacy FtP cases

and ensure we are dealing appropriately

with cases opened since September of

last year. And looking at the effecveness

and efficiency of all our operaons.

Interview


16/26


CPD is not a ck-box exercise: it plays akey role in enabling registrants to reflect

on and apply their learning, and helps to

bring into focus everything you learn as

you go about your work as a pharmacy

professional.

We have a statutory duty to ensure

registrants pracse safely and effecvely,

and the CPD framework and rules that

came into force in July, help to formalise

how this is done.

It is a legal requirement that youundertake and record CPD: in order to

maintain your registraon as a pharmacy

professional, you are required to

demonstrate that your pracce is

current. The framework explains how to

do this, as well as how much CPD is

required, how it has to be recorded and

what happens when a registrants

records are called.

One of the changes we have introduced

is that not only will you have to declare

on your renewal that you intend to

complete your CPD in the coming year,

but also that you have completed it in

the previous year.

Crucially, it is not only a queson of

parcipang in connuing educaon

the CPD framework is there to explain

what we see as an ongoing process of

reflecon, planning, acon and

evaluaon. For example, at least three

out of the nine required CPD entries for

each full year of your registraon muststart at reflecon, and we will check

that a registrant has applied at least

50 per cent of our assessable criteria for

good recording pracce.

If a registrant fails to respond to arequest from us to submit their CPD

record for review by the deadline given,

we may now remove them from the

register. Well use this new power only

as a final resort, but it shows the

importance we place on CPD as a means

of assuring connuing fitness to pracse.

Its best to avoid this by recording CPD

regularly, suggests head of educaon

and quality assurance, Damian Day. And

our online system is the best way of

doing this.

For some pharmacy technicians this is all

new, of course, as is being a professional

registrant group. But perhaps the

clearest way of looking at it this is not at

the CPD standards themselves, which

have altered, it is the way we explain

what you have to do which is new, plus

the fact that it is now a legal

requirement to record this in an

approved format.

Previously this was a nice to haverather than a necessity, explains

Damian. Now, if registrants dont

appear to have met the standards then

we will ask for extra informaon or we

may ask them to parcipate in some

more learning in a parcular area. For

example, we may ask a registrant to

undertake more CPD acvies by a

specified date and to make a record of

this learning in their record.

CPD makes you beer able to do yourjob as a pharmacy professional and the

framework is there to ensure registrants

are up to date, says Damian. It also

provides a cost effecve way for the

regulator to check this: the CPD

framework is not designed to be

intrusive records are normally only

called every five years, which means the

burden on you is reasonably light.

Conscienous professionals are

commied to CPD for their own posive

reasons having a regulatory framework

simply provides an important assurance

of something that should be (and in

most cases is) happening anyway.

Continuing Professional Development

Conscienous,professional,dedicated

Learning iscrucial tomaintaining

and improvingpharmacypractice. ButCPD isnt justa statutoryrequirement it makespractical sensefor pharmacistsand pharmacytechnicians totake it seriously.


17/26


CPD standards are not changed byfactors such as part-me employment or

working in a non-pharmacy role. We

will be flexible if someones

circumstances change but its always

best to let us know of changes in

advance, Damian goes on. Changes

may include taking a short career break,

or being unable to do CPD for a period

because you are ill.

Finally, we recognise that registrants

CPD needs are likely to be very different:

a community pharmacist or pharmacy

technicians CPD record, for example,

might contain entries about clinicalissues, public health issues and

prescripon and over-the-counter

medicines. However, a pharmacy

managers record could reflect

managing, coaching or training skills that

are being developed, while an industrial

pharmacist may have more on

regulatory requirements or new

technology. We just want to make sure

that you are accessing the learning that

will help you develop and keep your

paents safe.

Continuing Professional Development

CPD enables you to update,

maintain and develop your

capabilies by:

Helping you idenfy yourindividual learning needs Recognising the learning

that occurs in the workplace,whether formally orinformally

Acknowledging that everyonelearns in different ways andthat you will have your ownpreferred methods

Avoiding the need tocomplete a fixed number ofhours of CPD or to sck to aformal learning structure

Anything which helps you to

improve as a pharmacy

professional such as:

Learning knowledge and skillson conferences and courses Pracce-based learning

including feedback frompaents and audits

Analysis and review of cricalincidents

Self-directed learningincluding reading, wring orundertaking research

Learning with others e.g.talking to colleagues or goingto workshops

Details of the format in which you must record CPD, and the criteria we use

to assess whether youve met our requirements, can be found at

www.pharmacyregulaon.org. We are interested to have your views on

how the CPD review has worked and how helpful or otherwise youve

found the feedback given on your entries? You can send us your views to

[email protected] marked CPD review.

To update your CPD record, go to www.uptodate.org.uk

CPD:

What you need

to know


18/26


The presge and status that professionsare held in is based on the knowledge

that they have achieved a standard

arguably a gold standard qualificaon.

The courses that you take, leading to

registraon, are part of the bedrock

on which we all stand, and it is our

duty to make sure that these are of the

right standard.

The register sits at the heart of all

health professional regulaon, explains

Damian Day, head of educaon and

quality assurance. We have a legal

obligaon to set the standards for

educaon and training. We have to

check that you have the necessary

educaon and training, and we have

responsibility to check on standards

within universies. This is all key to

ensuring those who come onto the

register are fit to pracse.

Pharmacists, and now pharmacy

technicians, follow these vital pathways

into what is an academically demandingprofession. The process of renewal is,

at its heart, an affirmaon that these

GPhC-accredited courses have been

of a standard which ensures public

confidence in professionals and helps

to ensure paent safety.

For pharmacists this means a minimumfive years educaon before qualificaon,

taking in the four-year Master of

Pharmacy Degree (MPharm), followed by

a years pre-registraon training and

compleon of the registraon exam.

Spending that year gaining praccal

experience in a working pharmacy is a

crucial element of pre-qualificaon

training.

And since July this year, of course, the

register has included pharmacytechnicians. As a vital part of the team,

technicians have two years consecuve

work-based experience under the

guidance of a pharmacist, as well as

compleng a competency-based

qualificaon and a knowledge-based one

approved by us, either at a college or by

distance learning.

We also accredit training courses for

dispensing assistants and medicine

counter assistants.

Perhaps it is also useful to be clear about

the things that the GPhC doesntdo

when it comes to educaon and training.

We dont set fees (in England) or control

student numbers, Damian goes on.

Undergraduate pharmacy numbers are

unrestricted, for example, and we dont

have a role in workforce planning.

Education and training

Education and

training are thefoundations onwhich we allstand in thepharmacyprofession andit is the GPhCthat ensures

standards aremaintained

Creangstrongfoundaons


19/26


In other words, we set the standards

which should make registrants ready for

life in the profession, but how this is

delivered is then down to educaonal

instuons and employers. Two of the

larger pharmacy mulples, for example,

train around half of pre-reg students

who make it on to the register. Therewill be around 2,800 students next year

in pre-reg, says Damian. In 2010,

2,505 new trainees entered pharmacist

pre-registraon training.

As regulator we also try to help shape

legislaon on educaon and training by

offering our thoughts on how proposed

changes may affect registrants and

paents. As part of this work, we are

contribung to the governments current

work on Modernising Pharmacy Careers

(MPC), for example. This important

project has huge implicaons for the way

would-be registrants will train in future.

It looks at three things:

Inial educaon and training of

pharmacists and pharmacy

technicians

Postgraduate pharmacy training

Workforce and technology

The first two of these relate to the

way in which students are educated:

possible changes in England could

include wrapping up the current

pre-reg year into a five-year bundle

(rather than a four-year course plus one

year) that would include both MPharm

and pre-reg.

The third part of the MPC workstream

looks at how things should work as the

pharmacy industry changes, such as the

increasing move to clinical pracce.

What happens in England, Scotland andWales may well be different, says

Damian. Some or all of what MPC has

proposed may be brought out for

consultaon probably later this year, but

we as the regulator, will need to consider

any proposed changes to the provision or

funding of pharmacy educaon proposed

by the each of the governments in

England, Scotland or Wales.

Whatever the outcome, the nature of

the pharmacy professions work is

changing, and educaon and training will

adapt to suit the demands of paents

and employers.

As many in the pharmacy sector move

towards a more clinical role, courses will

change and we will revise our standards

to reflect the way the profession is

working. But the quality of the courses

must and will remain constant,

helping to ensure that we will have a

well-stocked pool of future talent:

qualified pharmacists who are trained to

deliver good quality care and services.

Ulmately, our responsibility is to

paents and the public, concludes

Damian. Our aim is to ensure through

the training and educaon that we

accredit - that everyone who is

registered with us has the necessary

skills to carry out their work safely.

Education and training

Educaon and training: what you need to know

Pharmacists need to spend a minimum five years in educaon and training before they qualify, consisng of a four-year

MPharm and a years praccal work although the way in which you do this could be set to change

We accredit all the pharmacy schools in universies which offer MPharms, as well as courses which are part of the

Overseas Pharmacists Assessment Programme for non-EEA qualified pharmacists

We are rigorous: it usually takes three years from an inial meeng with a university that wants to provide an MPharm

course to the first intake of students

Students have to complete a years pre-registraon training and pass our registraon exam before they can join the register

Pharmacy technicians need to have two years of work-based experience under the guidance of a pharmacist and must

complete further qualificaons approved by the GPhC


20/26


GPhC

Who we areand what we do

One of our key messages as the new

regulator for the pharmacy professions is

that fitness to pracse is only one part of

our work. There is a much wider role

that we play, much of it focused on

supporng pharmacy professions to

maintain standards of conduct, ethicsand performance. As a new organisaon,

we want to explain clearly our

approach not least so that if we fail to

live up to the high standards we set and

the approach we outline, we can be held

to account for it.

We became operaonal on

27 September 2010 when, under the

Pharmacy Order 2010, responsibility

for regulang the pharmacy profession

transferred from the RPSGB to

the GPhC. Our role is to protect,

promote, and maintain the health

and safety of the public.

At the heart of our proporonate,

risk based regulatory approach is

maintaining paent safety and public

trust in the profession by:

being independent;

ensuring pharmacy is as safe as it

can be;

sustaining and improving standardsand quality of care; and

working with professionals to

idenfy, address and learn from

poor pracce and behaviour.

We will regulate by developing andmonitoring compliance of our standards

and rules providing a praccable,

workable framework for pharmacy

professionals to deliver services safely.

They are intended to be proporonate

and useful, helping praconers to

improve quality, not be rule bound and

risk constraining safe pracce.

We believe that our vision of modern

regulaon can:

Allow pharmacy pracce to developand to rise to new challenges and

opportunies, while protecng the

safety of the paents and the public

Enhance the confidence of the

public and paents by sending out

a clear message that paent safety

is paramount

Ensure that registered professionalsare fit to deliver a wide range

of services to the public safely

Provide a framework for CPD and,

in due course, revalidaon

Provide a framework for seng

standards for advanced levels of pracce

Regulaon should not create unnecessary

burdens, but be proporonate to the

risk it addresses and the benefit

it brings.

It should support and enable the workinglives of pharmacists and pharmacy

technicians, and open up pathways to

a sasfying career, rather than being

seen purely as a means of discipline.

These are the principles to which we

subscribe and by which we are happy

to be judged.

Governing

council

14 appointed

individuals 7 pharmacy

professionals and

7 lay people

Set the strategy; and

holding the organisaon

to account

Chaired by

Bob Nicholls

Commiees We have a number of

statutory commiees:

Invesgang

commiee

Fitness to pracse

commiee

Appeals commiee

We also have several

non-statutory commiee:

Audit and risk commiee

Remuneraon

commiee

Appointments

commiee

Execuve

team

5 people including all

execuve directors

Deal with daily

operaonal issuesdelivering the councils

strategy

Led by chief

execuve andregistrar

Duncan

Rudkin

We thought it would be useful for you

to know who is regulang you so here

are some facts and figures...

Our remit is to regulate pharmacists,

pharmacy technicians and pharmacy

premises across England, Scotland

and Wales.

Seng the strategic direcon of the

organisaon is the responsibility of

our governing council. In governance

terms, we have a number of teams

that support safe pharmacy through

managing the GPhC.

How the GPhC works


21/26

When we took over regulaon ofpharmacy, there was one glaring

problem: there were a significant

number of fitness to pracse cases that

had yet to be concluded, but for which,

as the new regulator, we were now

responsible. Due to the way data had

been collected and put together, it took

us some me to find out the GPhC

had inherited 589 ongoing fitness to

pracse (legacy) cases.

Its a big responsibility we took on,

says Hilary Lloyd, director of regulatory

services. Based on the historic

throughput of cases it would be taking

us around four years just to clear the

backlog without receiving any

new cases.

For the public who made complaints,

and for pharmacy professionals who had

cases hanging over them, such delays are

unacceptable.

The Pharmacy Order 2010 gave us the

power to deal with each of the legacy

cases in a different way to normal

procedures. That enabled the registrar,

delegated by the governing council, to

decide whether cases should go to a full

fitness to pracse commiee hearing or

could be disposed of in a more

proporonate manner. This just

disposal of cases has been an important

element in speeding the process up;

although we have ensured that all cases

are handled fairly and transparently. Thisincludes proper internal and external

auding processes, and providing proper

explanaons of our decisions.

We took into account a number of

factors: how old is the case or/and can

we prove a case where the facts are in

dispute? There were a number of

checks and balances in the process,

but we wanted to make sure, too, that

we were being fair and proporonate,

while maintaining a clear focus on

public protecon.

The whole process has been useful onseveral levels. It gave us an insight into

the concerns of pharmacists and enabled

us to concentrate on proporonate

regulaon, Hilary. FtP isnt about

punishment. Some cases have been dealt

with by providing advice or issuing a

warning so they wouldnt then have to

go to a full hearing.

Complaints have been made over a

wide range of maers such as previous

convicons that havent been disclosed;

ethics issues; dispensing errors; unlawful

supply of drugs; alcohol misuse; the

and violence.

Some cases appear clear-cut, but in

many others there are nuances which

need to be carefully examined. We ask

what gives rise to these problems,

Hilary connues. If a dispensing error is

a one-off, then our view is that it s a

mistake. Were interested in whether

people learn from mistakes, which is a

key part of professionalism, and to whatextent there is any queson about their

current fitness to pracse. We want to

see whether theres anything systemic in

registrants pracse which is an issue,

rather than running every single error

into the ground.

Above all else, the idea of proporonate

regulaon underpins the process of

protecng paent safety. Our ethos is

that the vast majority of registrants are

good people but for a variety of reasonsa few might lose their way, she

concludes. Our focus should be on

geng them back into effecve pracce,

even subject to any necessary temporary

restricons. Of course, there are some

cases where, in the interests of the

public and the reputaon of the

professions, the only proper outcome is

erasure from the register and we need

to deal with those as quickly and fairly

as possible.


Fitness to practise legacy cases

Geng thingsin order

Dealing withhundreds oflegacy fitness topractise cases

we inheritedfrom the RPSGBhas been a toppriority over thepast year. Themajority of thecases have beendealt with and,

with newpolicies in place,it is time to lookforward.


22/26


Fitness to practise - determinations

DeterminaonsShould a fitness to pracse commiee

determine that a registrants fitness to

pracse is impaired, the commiee may

impose a sancon that is proporonate

to the conduct that has been found

proven. This may include, for example,

issuing a warning, placing condions on

the individuals registraon, suspension

or, in the most serious cases, erasing the

individual from the register so that they

can no longer pracse. Erasure from theregister is the most serious sancon. The

maers listed below include registrants

registraon number, date of the hearing

and the sancon by the panel.

Determinaon of the facts and addional

informaon about the hearings can be

found on our website.

Skekoni, Olawale Alade 2021866

Hearing 31/08/2011 and 1/09/2011

Registraon suspended for 6 months

following the registrant receiving a police

cauon for the of medicines from Asda

and for unlawful appropriaon of

Oramorph (a controlled drug) from Boots

whilst in their employment and self-

medicang.

Altaf, Ammaad 2053200

Hearing 04/09/2011

Condion placed on registraon

Risbridger, Ruairidh David 2060809

Hearing 18/07/2011

Registraon suspended for 12 months

for unlawful appropriaon of cash

from employer and for inappropriate

salary claims.

Edens, Jonathan Michael Hindrik,2061869

Hearing 17/08/2011

Removed from the register for having

been convicted of 13 criminal offences

that led to the imposion of a two-year

sentence of imprisonment.

Shah, Syed Naseem Hussain, 2045091

Hearing 23/08/2011

Suspended for 12 months

Shah, Syed Naseem Hussain 2045091Hearing 23/08/2011

Suspended for 12 months for receiving a

police cauon for false accounng.

Parsons, William John 2020046

Hearing 7/09/2011

Suspended for 12 months following

convicon for unlawfully adversing

prescripon only medicines.

All our fitnessto practisehearings areheld in public.Following theconclusion ofthe hearing wewill publish thedetermination outcome on our website.We will alsopublish alldeterminationssanctions inRegula+e.


23/26

Learning Case One

Short-date medicines

On 14 May 2010 the former regulator,

RPSGB, received a complaint alleging

that on 31 December 2009 the

registrants pharmacy had dispensed

short-dated Levothyroxine 50mcg,which expired at the end of March 2010

when the complainant would be out

of the United Kingdom on a four-

month holiday.

In numbered boxes, the complainant

was dispensed 4 x 28 tablets of

Levothyroxine 25mcg and 50mcg (for a

75mcg daily dose). The complainant took

the medicaon in order of the numbers

on the boxes. Aer the end of March 2010,

whilst out of the UK, the complainantdiscovered that the Levothyroxine 50mcg

box 4 of 4 had expired. A complaint was

subsequently submied to the regulator

upon the complainant returning from

their holiday.

In August 2011 this case was submiedto our legacy determinaon group [our

group considering cases received from

the RPSGB] for consideraon under the

just disposal policy. Both the

complainant and the registrant were

wrien to requesng their views on

potenal disconnuaon of the case.

The groups recommendaon to the

registrar was for this case to be

disconnued with wrien advice

to be sent to the registrant regarding

date-checking short-dated drugs.This recommendaon was based

on the fact the medicaon was in date

when it was dispensed and that the

registrant had shown good insight and

taken remedial steps upon receipt

of the complaint. The registrant had

reviewed her date-checking procedures,

therefore the prospect of establishing

current impairment of the registrants

fitness to pracse was considered

unlikely. The registrar agreed with

the groups recommendaon.The case was therefore disconnued

with advice.

Case Summary TwoFacebook isnt private

On 7 December 2010 the GPhC received a

complaint regarding a registrant posng

a derogatory comment about drug

addicted paents on the social

networking website. Facebook. The

allegaons against the registrant were

that this conduct was inappropriate and

contrary to Standard 3.2 of the standards

of conduct, ethics and performance.

Standard 3.2: Treat people politely and

considerately

Our invesgang commiee considered

it was proporonate to issue a leer of

advice to the registrant to remind her of

the requirement to uphold the high

standards required by her profession at

all mes. The invesgang commiee

stated the registrants comment was

unprofessional and publicly accessible

but that she had shown insight and

apologised for her acons.

A central aimfor us as aregulator is toensure thatwe sharelearning fromfitness topractise caseswith you asregistrants

Fitness to practise - learning

Learning Points

Make sure that when you

dispense medicines you include

a check to ensure that the stock

is in date

Consider the procedures you

have in place for dispensingshort dated stock

If a medicine has a short date

consider whether there is the

potenal that, by the me the

paent takes the medicine it will

have become out of date and

make a judgement about the

appropriateness of the supply

Learning Points

Social networking sites, such as

Facebook and Twier, are not

appropriate forums to discuss

paents Pharmacy professionals should

not make derogatory comments

about individual paents or

paent groups as these

demonstrate a lack of respect

and can cause unnecessary

distress, impacng negavely on

the profession as a whole



24/26

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If you would like a copy of this report in a different

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audio), please contact us.

Copies of this document are available to download

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We welcome feedback and comments on this

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25/26

Welcome fromthe chairWelcome to the first issue of Regula+e,

the General Pharmaceucal Councils

bullen for all registrants which we

intend to publish every two months.

As you know, there has been a great deal

of change over the last year, and some of

that is reflected in the arcles that I hopeyou will find me to read. While the GPhC

has been established by parliament to

ensure the safety of paents and the

promoon of quality services to the

public, it can only succeed in this role

with buy-in from its registrants.

Regula+e is designed to provide all

registrants with important and useful

informaon about the regulaon of the

profession and your responsibilies as a

regulated professional.

Whether you are a pharmacist or a

pharmacy technician, or you own premises,

our intenon is to provide you with what

you need to know in a nutshell,

informaon which will help you keep

paents safe and provide effecve care,

whatever field of pharmacy you work in.

This first issue focuses on the importanceof renewing your registraon; being on

the register is an important safeguard on

which safe and effecve regulaon

depends. There are also arcles on

connuing professional development

(CPD) and fitness to pracse (FtP),

reminding us that the declaraons you

sign at the point of registraon or

renewal are not merely boxes to ck

they are fundamental to your day-to-day

working lives and to our assurances to

the public about your fitness to pracse,which your connuing registraon

represents.

Regula+e forms part of a wider dialogue

between the GPhC and registrants: what

are we doing well? What can we do

beer and what do you want to see

more of? Or less? Feedback to us is

always important. Let us know what you

think.

The public places a lot of trust in you

and so do we. We hope you enjoyreading Regula+e and we look forward

to hearing from you.

Bob Nicholls

Chair


Regula+e is the registrant bullen of the

General Pharmaceucal Council.

It is sent to all registrants (at the me of

posng) and pre-registraon trainees. At

mes we may approach external

organisaons or individuals to submit an

arcle or opinion on a topical issue. All

arcles and leers commissioned, wrien

or submied are subject to editorial control

and may not be printed in full or with

reference back to source.

If you would like to contact the editor or

submit a leer or comment to Regula+e

please contact us at:

[email protected]

The Editor, Regula+e



General Pharmaceucal Council 2011

Welcome from the chair 2

A message from the chiefexecutive and registrar 3

Pharmacists update 4

Pharmacy technician update 5

Renewal 5

Standards 7

News in brief 8Letters 10

Customer service 12

Three countries 13

Interview with registrar 14

Continuing ProfessionalDevelopment 16

Education and training 18

GPhC 20

Fitness to practice -legacy cases 21

Fitness to practice -determinations 22

Fitness to practice - learning 23

Contents


26/26

A messagefrom the chiefexecutive andregistrarOur job is to uphold the standards of,

and public trust in, pharmacy. The

register a publicly available onlinesystem informing employers and the

general public about who is fit to

pracse is a good place to start.

Going live with our regulatory

responsibilies has not been without its

challenges and there has been much to

learn. What we have done over our first

year includes:

Distribung up-to-date General

Pharmaceucal Council standards

to registrants Implemenng a new renewal

metable and process for all of you

who were previously registered with

the Royal Pharmaceucal Society of

Great Britain

Beginning the roll-out of the new

renewals registraon system for those

who have registered directly with the

GPhC since September last year

Introducing new connuing

professional development rules

Meeng, listening to and speakingwith many registrants and their

leaders and representaves in

England, Scotland and Wales,

providing us with much-needed

informaon about a range of topics.

These conversaons are feeding

directly into our ongoing work to

design a new model for pharmacy

premises regulaon

Much of what we have done over

the 12 months since we became

operaonal has been about pung in

place the essenal building blocks to

underpin more efficient and effecve

regulaon which is not code for

more regulaon.

We carried out a major communicaons

drive to ensure that all those with

the opon of applying for pharmacytechnician registraon had the

informaon they needed before the

start of compulsory registraon.

We are now working through the much-

larger than expected final wave of

applicaons which this campaign

brought in.

When it comes to fitness to pracse,

we are clearing the legacy cases we

inherited from the RPSGB and we are

learning lessons. We have put solid

foundaons in place, including a new

customer contact centre. And we

will provide you with greater value as

And so to Regula+e. We know that its

not enough for us to be accessible

through email and phone. We have an

obligaon to reach out too and this will

be one of a number of addional ways

we will do so. This regular publicaon is

not about promong our existence and

work it will focus on regulatory

informaon you need to know.

Regula+e is your publicaon. We wantto encourage your feedback on areas

and topics that you would like to see

covered in future issues, and to

contribute and share your learning with

other pharmacy professionals by wring

to our leers page.

Duncan Rudkin

Chief execuve and registrar

Bob Nicholls (le) and Duncan Rudkin (right)

Documents

Regula+e Issue 1